


Young Justice: Revenants and Rebirth

by Nycis



Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types, Under the Red Hood, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Introspection, Love Triangles, M/M, Return of Jason Todd, Season 3, Slow Burn, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2018-11-14 12:03:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11207691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nycis/pseuds/Nycis
Summary: A few weeks after Wally disappears and the Reach have left Earth, Dick refuses to believe that Wally is dead. Meanwhile, a brutal new vigilante called the Red Hood has cut a bloody path through Europe and Asia, now he has reached America. With his goals unclear, Batman sends the Team to investigate the new vigilante as well as multiple possible Joker sightings across the country.Arc 1: Under the Red Hood 1-10





	1. Return

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to rewatch Young Justice recently and forgot how good a show it was so I decided to have a go and write what I want season 3 to be like. This my first fan fic so I'm sorry if it sucks, hope you enjoy!

**_Watchtower_ **

**_July 19, 20:31_ **

 

Batman had gathered the whole team together, it had been two weeks since they had successfully repelled the Reach but the cost had been high. It wasn’t just the loss the Wally, he had represented the heart and soul of the team, his passing had taken a heavy toll on morale. Especially for Bart, Dick, Kaldur, Conner and Artemis. Bart had stepped up and become the new Kid Flash, trying to the fill the hole left by Wally with smiles and jokes but Bruce could tell he was hiding behind the fake laughs. They were big boots to fill and the newest speedster was probably insecure about his role in the team, the previous Kid Flash had given his life for everyone else, how could Bart possibly live up to that? Dick was hardly a stranger to trauma and loss, but the death of his best friend had hit him harder than Mammoth could, even harder than Jason’s death. Without a physical body and weird residual energy readings, Nightwing hadn’t been able to accept his friend’s death but Bruce didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop investigating. Kaldur was trying to take a leadership role in the team, he wanted to try and take hold of the situation, hoping his usual calmness and steely resolve comforted the young heroes. Bruce was most concerned about Conner, the clone already had anger management issues, even if he had improved in recent years, Superboy could still be a danger to everyone around him. Conner had recently been growing closer and closer to Robin, perhaps it was Tim’s calm, quiet and logical approach that acted as a grounding rod for Conner’s rage. Then there was Artemis, Bruce sighed, he knew how hard it could be to put the death of a loved one behind you, and although he didn’t know her well, Bruce could empathise with her. She had thrown herself into the role of Tigress and he could certainly respect that.

 

“Alright! Settle down everyone,” The team quickly turned to look at him, that was the effect the Batman had on the young heroes. “There have been three potential sightings of the Joker and his gang, so either we have a copycat gang or the Joker is expanding his operations. Either is bad news, so I’m sending a squad to each location, Beta will go to Opal city, Gamma has Star city and Delta will investigate Gateway city. Aqualad you are leading Beta with Static and Tigress. Batgirl take Bumblebee and Wonder Girl, you are Gamma. Miss Martian, Beast Boy and Lagoon Boy are Delta. Nightwing, Superboy, Blue Beetle, Kid Flash and Robin you will be Alpha, I need you for a different mission, stay here. Dismissed.”

 

There was an excited atmosphere as most of the team started chatting and bustling around, all the members heading off to their various missions. The remaining five heroes approached Batman and once the room had emptied, Bruce started pulling up various files, images and videos. “This is the Red Hood.” A grainy image from a surveillance camera open up, showing  a firefight between six henchmen with assault rifles and one man wearing a red mask, dual wielding pistols. “That was the De Costa gang, a human trafficking ring that operated out of Miami, until 27 hours ago. It took the Red Hood less than a day completely dismantle the entire operation, 34 members of the gang have been found dead and any remaining have gone to ground. Nightwing I need you to lead Alpha and find Red Hood to bring him in. He appears to have no metahuman abilities but is extremely well trained, he-”

 

“He’s a punk with two glocks!” Nightwing interrupted angrily, “I have more important things to be worrying about! Like, I don’t know? My best friend, who you seem to have all forgotten about.”

“Nightwing!” Batman, said through gritted teeth, remaining mostly calm. “Red Hood is a priority, he’s wanted for 263 counts of murder already, Wally is-”

 

“Is not dead! Where’s a body? Show me one and then I’ll lead your squad. Robin is more than capable of leading this team, it’s one guy with two guns! I told you I need a break from all this.” Nightwing retorted as he stormed towards the Zeta tube.

 

Robin was about to speak up when Batman placed a hand on his shoulder, sighing. “Just let him go. He needs more time.” Jaime and Bart exchange an awkward glance, not wanting to get involved with Bat family drama. After a momentary pause. Batman continues with the brief, “Red Hood has left a bloody trail behind him, he was first seen in Pakistan, but since then has headed East through both Europe and Asia. He is not to be underestimated, so Robin you need exercise caution....”

 

 

**_Miami_ **

**_July 19, 20:48_ **

 

Jason Todd stop on top of Luthor Towers looking out to the horizon, the luxury waterside apartment complex was still under construction but building works had been paused for the time being. He gazed toward the slowly setting sun, Jason thought we would have missed this, the sun, the sky, the warmth on his face but truth be told, he didn’t. Since coming back from the dead, there won’t many things that elicited an emotional response from him, he had all but forgotten what happiness felt like. Rage, sorrow, anger, they were the emotions he felt now and Jason didn’t know what worried him more, that he couldn’t feel happiness anymore or that he didn’t want to.

 

“ _ This is Alpha, we’ve touched down in Miami. Proceeding to investing the De Costa docks.” _ Jason’s train of thought was broken by the comm piece in his ear. Once he had broken into one of Bruce’s equipment caches in Prague, it wasn’t hard to monitor the Team’s communication channel. Jason takes one last look at the sunset before putting on his red mask, there was a satisfying click as his helmet sealed and his familiar display started up. It was time to go to work.

 

_ “This is Kid Flash, perimeter is clear of hostiles, the dock is safe.”  _ So they had already found a new Kid Flash, where do speedsters even come from? Jason pondered as he observed Bart through the scope of a .45 sniper rifle. The other advantage about the partially constructed Luthor Tower, apart from it being off the grid, was it had a great view of the De Costa dock. He switched to a thermal scope and confirmed the presence of the four young heroes, led by the new Robin no less. His replacement. His rage built just thinking about it. Replaced, like he didn’t matter. Bruce barely waited a month before recruiting his next young protegé if Jason’s data was correct. Kid Flash, he was prepared for a speedster, he knew their weaknesses. Robin, he was sure he could beat the snot out of his jumped up replacement. Superboy, he would be tough, well trained and strong. Then this new guy, Blue Beetle was a wild card, he appear to a flier but also ranged and heavily armed. 

 

Jason smiled to himself. This was going to be a fun fight.

 

 

The docks were a mess to say the least. Law enforcement agencies has cleaned the crime scene up but there will still plenty of bullet holes and a few blood smears. Robin immediately started reviewing security footage on his holographic display to get a feel for the fight. Conner was looking at the footage over his shoulder, a concerned and slightly angry (when wasn’t he) look on his face.

 

“Damn, ese. This was one guy..?” Jaime said to Bart, looking at the chaos around them.

 

“Hey Blue, don’t worry, I can out run all of this guy’s bullets.” Bart grins over at Jaime who appears to relax slightly. Everyone had been worried about him since Wally’s death, it was good to be out on a proper mission, especially one with Jaime. “I could just search the city, slap some cuffs on this guy and be back in a flash.”

 

Jaime groans slightly at the pun, Robin and Superboy either didn’t hear him or didn’t care, hopefully the former. “Herman-” Jaime starts to come with a retort when a bullet slams into his back, bright electricity suddenly sparking around him as Blue Beetle falls to the floor. His blue and black armour starts to retract around him, Bart rushes over to him without even thinking, carrying him bridal style into the cover of a nearby warehouse.

 

“Jaime! Jaimeohgodsareyoualright?” He quickly blurts out.

 

The other boy nods, still shuddering slightly. “I’m good ese, some kind of EMP round. I’ll be on my feet in a minute, it’ll leave a bruise though…”

 

Bart sighs in relief before running over to his other two teammates, “He’s good, just rebooting. Where did that come from?”

 

Conner stands over a crouched Robin, shielding him from an other shots. “There!” He growls, “On that roof, it’s the hood guy!”

 

“Red Hood.” Robin corrects him, “Alpha squad, get ready to intercept but don’t engage yet.” But before he could finish his sentence Bart had already run off towards the sniper and Conner started leaping up the side of the construction site. “Great…” Robin sighs as he pulls out his grappling gun to follow them.

 

 

Jason always loved to watch the reaction, the chaos that followed after the first shot. As panic set in, like ants scurrying away from a boot. He didn’t have the luxury of time today though, not with a speedster around. Slinging the sniper over his back, he drew his two pistols from their holsters at his waist. They were beautiful things, each part custom made by him, he knew every section of them like the back of his hand. Just as he was admiring his own handiwork, a rush of wind blew past him, Kid Flash had arrived.

 

Bart stood on the side of the roof, sliding to a stop. “Now I’m going to make this very clear. You can come with me nice and easy or I can kick your ass and drag you out of here unconcious.”

 

Jason just chuckled, “You certainly have balls kid, but I’m going to have to say no.” He opened fire on the speedster, spreading his arc of fire to make the bullets harder to dodge. Let’s see what this Kid Flash can do.

Kid Flash grins in response, twisting and ducking around and under bullets, “I was hoping you’d say that. I’m really going to enjoy punching that mask off.” Just as Bart gets close enough to grab Red Hood, a bolt of electricity sparks off Jason’s chestplate, sending the speedster flying back a few yards.

 

“You can’t run from 50,000 volts.” Jason quickly grabs a dart from his belt and throws in to Bart’s torso, “That’s enough tranquilizer to put a horse out for about 24 hours, it’ll take about 5 minutes for your metabolism to burn through it.”

 

Bart tries to say something but quickly falls unconscious, just as Superboy leaps over the side of the roof. Rage builds behind Conner’s eyes as he asses the situation, he wasn’t about to let a second Kid Flash die. “Get away from him!” Superboy hells as he rushes towards the Red Hood.

 

“My, my, someone is very angry today.” Jason holsters the guns, they weren’t going to help in this fight. He deftly side steps Conner’s initial charge, elbowing him in the back of the head as the clone’s momentum carried him past Jason. “Sloppy, sloppy. What would big blue say?”

 

In response Superboy yells in anger, turning around to strike back, just a Robin grappled onto the rooftop. Red Hood ducks under the wild swing and jabs two fingers into Conner’s neck, directly hitting a pressure point. Jason kicks the stunned Superboy away as Robin charges, bo staff at the ready. “So the baby bird shows his face at last. I’m really not impressed with your team so far.”

 

“You can’t win this Hood. Surrender now.” Tim shouts as Jason blocks his initial bo staff swing with his vambraces.

 

“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that front, Robin.” Jason spits out the last word like an insult. The two of them keep fighting neither breaking through the other’s defense. Conner slowly stands up, still wobbling slightly. Whatever Hood had done to him had hurt. A lot. He tries to clear his mind focussing on the task at hand. He needed to take the Red Hood down quickly, Tim was losing ground, being forced toward the roof’s edge. He charges at Tim’s assailant from behind, only for Red Hood to turn at the last minute. Conner’s stomach turns as he gets flipped over the Red Hood’s shoulder, that was a classic Black Canary move. Conner can’t believe he fell for it. Now he was in freefall, plummeting towards the concrete dockyard.

 

“No! Conner!” Tim yells as he sees Superboy disappear over the roof’s edge. It was the distraction Red Hood needed. A sharp right hook connects with Tim’s head.

 

“Oh dear. Using real names in the field? Poor form Robin.” Tim starts to groggily pick himself up from the ground, head still hurting. Panic sets in as he sees Red Hood standing over the unconscious form of Bart, with a gun in his hand. “Give everyone a message, would you?”

 

_ BLAM! BLAM! _

 

“Kid’s shouldn’t wear costumes.”


	2. Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People deal with the fallout of Alpha's failed mission, Dick feels guilty and Conner tries to comfort Tim. Meanwhile Jason arrives closer to his destination and his target.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm making a slight change to Jason's death, instead of Batman failing to save him in time, the team was tried and failed to rescue him. It's just a slight change to make the Under the Red Hood fit in more with Young Justice and shift Jason's anger more towards Nightwing and the Team as opposed to just Batman.

**_Watchtower_ **

**_July 19, 21:23_ **

 

Nightwing sat in front of a control terminal, tapping his fingers on the desk. He was trying to go over today’s data from the arctic circle, there will still unexplained energy fluctuations from where Wally had disappeared but he was distracted. He shouldn’t have snapped at Bruce…

 

_ “Robin to Watchtower! Come in, this is Robin to Watchtower, we have a Code Red in Miami, Kid Flash is down. I repeat, Kid Flash is down!” _

 

_ “I’ve got- wait! Where did he go? I’ve lost visual on Red Hood.” _

 

_ “Screw this, ese. I have to get Bart to a hospital now! Madre de dios…” _

 

_ “Beetle, stick to codenames. Wait where are you going? Jaime?!” _

 

_ “Tim, leave him. He’ll get Bart to a hospital-” _

 

Dick throws his earpiece across the room in anger, this was all his fault. Batman had placed him on that team, they probably needed him and now the mission has failed. Another Kid Flash’s life could be in danger because he was too busy chasing after Wally’s ghost. Dick held his head in his hands, when did life become so difficult? First his parents, then his brother Jason and now his best friend Wally. It felt like wherever he went, death stalked him.

 

Chasing after ghosts…

 

Dick suddenly sat up straight, taking a second look at the data on his screen.

 

 

**_Gotham City_ **

**_July 20, 01:47_ **

 

Tim sighed as he walked up the stairs of Wayne Manor. He had never taken failure well, it was one of the things that drove him, a desire to never fail. But tonight? Tonight was one of the worst failures in his career, scratch that, it was his worst failure. He was the team leader and his team failed, but it ran deeper than that. Alpha had run off without him, neither Conner or Bart listened to him, they just acted, they would have waited for Nightwing... 

 

As much as Tim loved and looked up to Dick, he always resented him slightly. Dick was the golden child, the perfect leader, the right balance of skills, intelligence and charisma. Deep down Tim felt like he would never live up to that, how could anyone? He wasn’t Nightwing and never would be. He opened the door to his room in Wayne Manor, he didn’t stay here often, only when he was on Robin duty and his parents didn’t expect him home. As such, he hadn’t decorate it much, or at all really. He had a few clothes, a first aid kit and a laptop lying around but that was about it. He stripped down to put on his night clothes, wincing as he took off his undershirt, his shoulder still hurt after falling on it when Red Hood knocked him down. His head was still ringing from that. Tim liked to think he was a good fighter but Red Hood? That guy was out of his league, it was like his opponent knew every single kick and strike that he used. By the end of the fight Tim was sure that Red Hood could have finished it much earlier and was just toying with him. He crawled into bed, sighing again. He doubted he’d get much sleep tonight, his mind was still working overdrive, analysing and assessing what had happened. He grabbed his phone, why bother even trying to go to sleep?

 

_ \--You have 8 new messages-- _

 

_ // Cassandra Sandsmark (5) _

 

_ 22:16 - Hey Tim, are you alright? _

_ 22:17 - I heard the mission went badly, just wanted to know if you were okay? _

_ 23:05 - Barbara told me what happened to Bart, I’m sure it’s not you fault. Don’t beat yourself up too badly. _

_ 23:07 - I’m here if you want to talk. _

_ 00:42 - I’ll understand if you want to be alone, but I’m here. _

 

Tim rubbed the lump forming on his forehead, Cassie was a great girlfriend and all… but she was a bit intense a lot of the time. Not being tell her everything didn’t help either, Batman hadn’t even given him permission to even to tell Cassie his last name. He’d deal with all of this later, never talk to girls while you have a concussion, Tim was sure Dick had told him that at some point... 

 

_ // Barbara Gordon (2) _

 

_ 22:56 - Heard Bats gave you an earful after your mission, don’t worry he does that to everyone. _

_ 23:01 - Jaime got Bart to a hospital quickly and he isn’t in a critical state, regenerative powers help but they’re not sure how permanent the damage will be to his knee. We all have off days, don’t worry about it Timmy. _

 

That brought a smile to Tim’s face, Barbara is always like a big sister to him. She has a reassuring and calm aura to her, she never presses an issue if she doesn’t have to but Barbara is always just there to help if you need it. Anything from a shoulder to cry on to a sudoku you can’t solve, she was just there.

 

_ // Conner Kent (1) _

 

_ 01:32 - tim? _

 

Tim didn’t really know how to feel about Conner, they had become pretty good friends recently and they usually worked well together. Brains and brawn, ying and yang, their strengths and weaknesses complemented each other, he didn’t know what went wrong tonight. He decided to text back, Conner was there, maybe he’d be able to help, plus it was always good to talk to Conner.

 

_ 01:51 - Yeah, I’m here. _

It didn’t take long for Conner to start replying.

 

_ 01:52 - bats done shouting at you then? _

 

_ 01:52 - Yeah, it wasn’t that bad, I think he was being nice. _

 

_ 01:52 - well we both know that you beat yourself better than anyone _

_ 01:53 - what happened to bart wasn’t your fault, you know that right? _

 

_ 01:53 - I was team leader and the team failed. It was my fault. _

 

_ 01:53 - dude, come on _

_ 01:53 - both me and bart went off without thinking, it was a rookie error _

_ 01:53 - after jaime went down, neither of us were thinking clearly _

 

_ 01:54 - Still, I should have had one of you check the perimeter. Batman even told me to exercise caution, maybe I’m just not cut out to be a leader. _

 

_ 01:54 - that’s bull and we both know it tim, leave being the golden boy to dick and take that stick out of your ass _

_ 01:54 - we were a team and we failed, it wasn’t just on you _

_ 01:55 - you saw that hood guy, he took us all down so easily, even me! _

 

_ 01:55 - If you say so… _

_ 01:55 - Still can’t stop thinking about him, it was like he knew everything I’d do before I did. He was scary good. _

 

_ 01:56 - he’s good, so what? _

_ 01:56 - we’ll just have to try harder next time, don’t worry. _

_ 01:56 - come to the watchtower tomorrow, we’ll train so you’ll be beat him next time :) _

 

_ 01:56 - Okay, sounds like a plan, see you then. _

 

_ 01:57 - now get some sleep! that’s an order, I swear you sleep less than dick ever did _

 

_ 01:57 - Sir, yes sir. _

 

Tim put his phone back on the bedside table feeling considerably better. That was just what Conner did to him, no matter the situation, he just made Tim feel inexplicably better. He lay back down and shut his eyes, and this time he fell asleep almost instantly.

 

 

**_Blüdhaven_ **

**_July 20, 09:32_ **

 

Jason woke with a start, shaking his head to try and remove the grogginess. Blinking a few times, his eyes became adjusted to the light, checking his watch he noted he had almost managed to oversleep. It was a minor miracle for him to get a normal night’s sleep, he hadn’t slept this well since… well since he was dead. The fight had taken more out of him than he’d care to admit, he was rusty when it came to dealing with superpowers. On his travels from Nanda Parbat he had only encountered a few low powered metas. Last night, now that was a proper fun fight, he smiled while recalling the previous events.

 

Kid Flash had been easy to deal with, new kid but same old weaknesses, he was overconfident as his predecessor. In the end Jason had only put two rounds in the kid’s knees, that ought to teach him a lesson, one he should have learnt from the first Kid Flash’s death. Superboy hadn’t really improved that much, too much rage, not enough focus, using his own momentum against him had been child’s play. Then came Robin, same moves that Bruce and Canary had taught him, the bo staff was good addition to the fighting style, but in the end? His replacement didn’t provide much of a challenge either.

 

Jason stood up and looked over the roofs of the city, Nightwing had taken him here a few times but he wasn’t exactly familiar with the place. Still it would make a good pit stop, the train he had managed to stowaway on last night would only take him this far, he’d have to find a boat to get to Gotham. He had time though, knowing Bruce, he’d have the whole team on his ass, it was going to happen sooner or later. This way hopefully the team will be wasting their time by searching Miami for him. Best to lay low for a day or two and then sneak into Gotham under the cover of night. Sure enough when he checked his hacked communicator, Batman had issued an alert to the whole team and league with his details on it, there was even a grainy picture of him on it.

 

_ // Priority Alert: RED HOOD _

_ Name: Unknown _

_ Alias: Red Hood _

_ Age: Approximately 18 _

_ Height: 6’0” _

_ Abilities: None Observed _

_ Skills: Expert Marksman, Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant _

 

_ If seen, do not try and engage, report and observe. Exercise extreme caution. _

_ // Priority Alert: RED HOOD _

 

Now he just had to try and find a hole to hide in without attracting any attention.


	3. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce visits Dick, Tim and Conner begin looking into the Red Hood while Jaime helps Bart to get back onto his feet. Meanwhile Jason accidentally makes a new friend while attacking the Black Mask's gang.

**_Blüdhaven_ **

**_July 22, 06:17_ **

 

Dick rubbed his eyes, it was getting late, even for him. He decided to keep going over the data for another hour, he could sleep when he had found Wally. Dick was onto something, he was sure of it. His computer screen constantly flashed changed as he rapidly sifted through megabytes of data from the Arctic circle. For the most part, the energy fluctuations seemed random, a result of the near catastrophic event that happened there a few weeks prior. But Dick had started to notice a pattern, while everyone had been looking for a consistent reading, some kind of trace energy left by Wally, Dick had noticed the opposite. In each reading there was a blank spot, it changed in size and position but it was there and he didn’t know how, but Dick knew that it must be Wally.

 

There was a slighty creaking sound and a small movement of air, Dick leans back in his chair and sighs. “What do you want Bruce?”

 

“I just wanted to talk Dick, to make sure you were okay. Am I not allowed to do that?” Batman replied from behind him, even though he was still in costume Bruce was using his normal voice.

 

“Well I’m busy, I have more important things to do than listen to one of your lectures on grief and how to move on.” Dick snapped back.

 

“Dick I’m only here because I’m concerned about you.” Bruce pauses for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Everyone is worried about you. I know this important to you, that Wally was important to you, but the team needs your support, Tim needs you. Ever since his encounter with the Red Hood, he’s been on edge, not himself and I think he needs his brother.”

 

“I know… But that’s my fault, you asked for me to lead Alpha and I didn’t. As a result any of them could have died Bruce. I can’t be on the team right now, I need space and time. Put Kaldur back in charge properly, he’s ready for it and has already led the team for years.” Dick sighs, rubbing the fatigue from his eyes again. “But I have data now, actual proof Wally is alive! Give me an hour and I can explain it to you-”

 

Bruce puts a hand on Dick’s shoulder, “And I would love to go over it with you, but I can’t right now. I’m also here to warn you. I have a possible lead on the Red Hood, a security cam caught him sneaking onto a train from Miami two days ago. It went through here, among other places. I can’t afford to send the team after him again, he’s a lot more dangerous than I originally thought, Alpha’s failure is my fault too. Just be careful, in case he’s here.”

 

Dick nods, he had heard some of the details of the fight from Barbara, the Red Hood sounded scarily good.

 

“And Dick, get some sleep.”

 

 

**_Central City_ **

**_July 22, 08:54_ **

 

Jaime woke up to the sound of keys tapping. Bart was typing on his laptop at super speed, Jaime just hoped he wouldn’t break the computer’s keyboard. Again. He shifted and stretched in the hospital chair, yawning as he his groggy mind woke up. Bart’s hospital room was nice, it was clean and modern but still comfortable, much better than anything you would find in El Paso.

 

“Oh hey Jaime, good morning, buenos dia! Did you have a good sleep? That chair sure looks comfortable.” Bart smiled over at him from his hospital bed. The speedster’s leg was still in a cast, his knee was healing quickly but the doctors didn’t really know how to treat someone with a healing factor like Bart. They had removed the bullets from his knee during a mess operation in Miami, then transferred him to Central City to recuperate. Jaime hadn’t left his side.

 

“Madre di dios Bart, turn down the volume. It’s too early to be awake, let alone talking.” Jaime replied while rubbing his eyes.

 

“Come on Blue, it’s almost 9. That’s over a third of the day already gone.”

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping, you know, saving all your energy to heal or something?”

 

“Dude, I’m stuck in this bed, not exactly using much energy here. I’m just doing some research for Robin.”

 

“Don’t tell me Robin is still trying to track that _hijo de las mil putas_ down? Batman said to drop it, like he explicitly said for us to not investigate him.” Jaime pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, “That dude almost killed all of us for god’s sake, why is Rob trying to find him?”

 

“You know he can get, doesn’t rest until he gets the job done. I figured I might as well just help him, I wasn’t doing anything else anyway.”

 

Jaime just sighed, he knew he wouldn’t win this argument. He pulled his phone out and texted his sister to let his family know he still okay but would be out of town for a bit longer. After a few minutes Bart closed the laptop, smiling over at Jaime. “There, done.”

 

He really wanted to be pissed off with Bart right now, he had almost died! How can he be so calm and… chalant! Then Bart smiled at him and Jaime instantly forgot all of his worries, that smile usually had that effect on him. Blushing slightly, Jaime cleared his throat and looked over at the speedster, “Do you want to try and get up then?”

 

“Yeah! What’s the worst that could happen?” Bart said, shuffling over to the edge of hospital bed.

 

“Don’t tempt fate, ese. Alright, I can take your weight if you need me to.” He moves to sit on the bed next Bart, who loops an arm over Jaime’s shoulder. On the count of three the pair gets up and they start slowly walking around the hospital room, Bart beams at Jaime and almost doesn’t notice him blushing at all the physical contact.

 

 

**_Watchtower_ **

**_July 22, 12:16_ **

 

Conner walked into Tim’s nest in the Watchtower, it was supposedly a spare room but Tim had made it into his own operations centre. Three huge monitors hung on the wall, with several more smaller displays littered around, there was a small science setup for whatever kind of experiments and tests that Tim needed to run as well as a coffee machine. Conner had never been a fan of the stuff but Tim practically lived on it, must be how he managed to stay up all night. Tim turned around to see who had entered, his swivel chair creaking, several of the displayed quickly changed to a generic desktop background.

 

“Relax Tim, it’s only me.” Conner grins at him, “So do you want to tell me what you were doing?”

 

Tim chuckles and smiles at his friend. “I have no idea what you are talking about, I definitely wouldn’t be disobeying Batman’s orders and researching the Red Hood.”

 

“No, you would never do that. So what have you found?” Although Conner didn’t like the idea of Tim trying to go after the Red Hood, he knew that when Tim put his mind to something, he didn’t stop. He much prefered Tim going after Red Hood with his help than without it.

 

“I got Bart to help, he searched through everything he could find on the web about the Hood and sent me all the useful info. I’ve been compiling everything we know about him and even went back to the docks in Miami last night, I found a partial fingerprint there.”

 

“So what have found out, I don’t supposed you managed to get a full name, a house address and a weakness we can use against him?” Conner asked hopefully.

 

Tim laughs. “No, quite the opposite in fact. I have nothing. No name, no mug shot, the fingerprint wasn’t on an international or easily hacked national database. Six months ago, this guy appeared in Pakistan and started working his way across Asia and Europe, murdering and taking over criminal operations. He targeted everything from human trafficking to drug dealing, the only pattern is that he was heading west. He doesn’t appear to work for any organisation or the Light. The only connection I’ve found is that he was first spotted a week after the Joker broke out of Arkham again and that his alias, the Red Hood, was a name the Joker previously used.”

 

Conner raises an eyebrow, “So what, this guy works for the Joker and once he heard his boss had broken out of Arkham he decides to come home?”

 

Tim shakes his head, “No, I mean it’s a possible hypothesis, but if he worked for the Joker then why did he spend six months accumulating money and information before finally getting here? No this guy is well trained and smart, he was preparing for something… Apart from that, he was partially caught on a camera jumping onto the back of a train heading north from Miami. He has some kind of connection to Joker so logically, his eventual destination will be Gotham, but the train he boarded went through Bludhaven, he probably got off there. You up for a field trip?”

 

Conner sighs, “Tim. Last time we went up against him, he easily beat us as well as Bart and Jaime. What makes you think we can take him now?”

 

“Just some recon, he’s probably moved on from Bludhaven anyway now, it’s been two days since he theoretically arrived there.”

 

Conner frowned, he knew this was a bad idea and he had a feeling that Tim was holding something back from him. He had been on the team with Dick, Jason and now Tim, he knew when a Bat was hiding something. “This is a terrible idea Tim, why are you so obsessed with finding this guy? It’s more than he beat you, beat us. What’s going on?”

 

Tim smirks slightly as he grabs his utility belts and bo staff, walking towards the door. “Well are you coming or not?”

 

Conner sighs and follows, he wasn’t about to let Tim go on a suicide mission, at least not alone.

 

 

**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 22, 23:18_ **

 

Jason had made a plan. He had hacked all the nearby street cameras, downloaded the warehouse’s floor plan, identified the guards’ patrols and procured all the explosives he needed. The one thing he hadn’t planned for was a ginger guy with a robot laser arm to show up. The warehouse belonged to Roman Sionis, a Gotham gang boss who goes by Black Mask, he been expanding his operations into Bludhaven recently and was on Jason’s list of people to fuck with. More importantly, there was a very nice, very fast and off the books boat stored there that no one would miss if the warehouse mysteriously blew up.

 

Then this guy showed up and got into a firefight with the Black Mask gang using a bow and some kind of crazy cybernetic arm. Something about him seemed familiar and he looked like he could handle himself so Jason decided to look this guy up on the League database, they really should have deleted his login credentials when he died. After about five minutes of research to the relaxing background noise of Arsenal beating up gangbangers, Jason was impressed. This guy Arsenal had quite the repertoire of skills and equipment, plus he had told Dick to suck it and left the Team, Jason was starting to like this guy.

 

Arsenal slumped against a wall, he had taken a bullet to his right thigh but had still managed finish off the rest of the gang members guarding the warehouse. He probably wasn’t going to bleed out but the van containing Black Mask’s newest enforcer, Mr. Freeze, that was currently en route to the warehouse would be a problem for Arsenal. From his vantage point on the roof opposite, he could see the van coming down the street, pulling out his pistols, Jason decided it was time to make a dramatic entrance.

 

 

**_Gotham City Bay_ **

**_July 22, 23:26_ **

 

“You are crazy!” Arsenal laughed as him and Jason sped across the water to Gotham, a large fire blazing in the distance behind them. “Like Arkham Asylum level of crazy!”

 

“Would you prefer if I hadn’t stepped in and saved your ginger ass?” Jason replied while steering the speedboat.

 

“Oh hell no, you’re my type of crazy. Name’s Arsenal or just Roy if you prefer.” Roy grins and extends his normal arm to Jason.

 

“I know,” Jason replied, grinning behind his helmet and shaking the hand, “The League has a quite a file on you, and your clone. Don’t worry I’m not with either the League or the team, quite the opposite in fact.”

 

“So what, you’re some kind of hired muscle to recruit me or something? Who do you work for? Luthor?”

 

“I don’t take orders from anyone, not anymore at least. I’m here for some good old fashioned revenge, and to make sure no more innocent kids die because Batman and Nightwing don’t have the guts to do what is necessary. The name’s Jason, and it’s good to meet you Roy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has left Comments and Kudos, I'm glad everyone seems to be enjoying the story! I don't really have an upload schedule or anything I will just post chapters when I'm happy with them. Also I don't have a beta so if there are typos, I am very sorry.


	4. Exploration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim begins to investigate the Red Hood while Artemis confronts Dick about his recent behavior. Meanwhile Jason and Roy talk and Bruce decides to get some answers.

**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 23, 09:26_ **

 

Bludhaven was a city of the night, much like Gotham, in the morning light all of it’s stains and bruises that neon lights and casinos covered were laid bare. Tim never really understood why Dick chose to live here, he understood the impulse to strike out on your own, try and discover who you were. But Bludhaven? He hadn’t seen Dick in a few days, not since the Watchtower before the disastrous Miami mission, he just hoped Dick was doing okay. He had taken Wally’s death really hard, refusing to accept it against all the evidence, even Artemis had come to terms with it, in her own violent way. Tim sighed, he had other things to worry about right now. He was in civvies outside of a collapsed warehouse, the cops were still there and not letting anyone too near but Tim could see everything he needed to from out here.

 

The warehouse had belonged to the Black Mask and all of the surrounding security cameras conveniently went offline 10 minutes before the attack. Whoever attacked was either a small team or a one man job, the only casualties had been Black Mask’s guards, very professional and precise. Tim had seen debris around, what looked like fragments of a few assault rifles, a few tires off the charred chassis of a sports car, whoever had done this wasn’t that interesting in money. The MO fit the Red Hood, and Tim knew deep down that it was him. Just as Tim was thinking about all of this, absentmindedly strolling around the wrecked warehouse, he walked directly into a wall. A very big, strong and annoyed wall named Conner.

 

“Oh hey there, Conner...” Tim flushed, stammering slightly.

 

“Tim.” Conner replied curtly, raising an eyebrow, “Funny seeing you here, it’s almost like you were investigating the Red Hood. Without me. Don’t you remember the last time we looked around one of the Hood’s crime scenes? You and Bart could have been killed!”

 

“I know, I know…” Tim ushers Conner to the side in case any of the officers actually paid attention. “This is safe though, I just didn’t want to bore you with some simple detective work.”

 

“Bullshit. You feel responsible for what happened to Bart and didn’t want to risk anyone else getting hurt. I’ve worked with Dick for years now, you Bats all think you need to carry the whole world on your back but you don’t, that’s what Superman and me are here for.” Conner places a hand on Tim shoulder.

 

“Superman and I.”

 

“What?” Conner frowned.

 

“Superman and I, you should have said Superman and I, not Superman and me.”

 

Conner sighs and chuckles slightly, “You know, I really thought we were having a moment there. Now show me what you have and tell me what I can do to help.”

 

**_Gotham City_ **

**_July 23, 09:34_ **

 

Jason woke up to the smell of cooking, it was a smell he hadn’t woken up to in a very long time. For a moment he thought he was back in Wayne Manor on a lazy Sunday morning, the scent of Alfred’s delicious homemade breakfast wafting upstairs into his room. But he wasn’t there, and that would never happen again. He couldn’t afford to get sentimental now, just when he’d arrived back in Gotham. Jason shook himself awake and got off the ratty sofa he had been sleeping on, wandering over to the small kitchenette to see what was going on. The apartment was one of a few safe houses he had arranged to have set up while he was travelling to Gotham, they had nothing like the levels luxury, equipment and security of Bruce’s safe houses but Jason would make do.

 

Roy was humming to himself while frying bacon on the hob of a rusted stove. Jason had let Roy have the bed the night before, it looked like the redhead needed the rest, Jason only hoped the rudimental stitches had held or he’d have to get a new bed already. He took a moment to regard Roy, he seemed a bit taller and more filled out than in his profile, his hair was a bit grown out now, he came across as a more complete person than Black Canary described him in his psych eval. Jason had only skimmed over his profile in the League database, just to check he wasn’t going to rescue a crazed lunatic, something about being abducted and cloned, kicked out the team for being reckless. But Jason liked this guy already, especially considering that Roy was cooking enough bacon for both of them.

 

“I see Sleeping Beauty has finally woken up, I’ve got bacon.” Roy grins as he sees Jason approach.

 

“Hey, I had to patch you up, go stash the boat and then set this place up. You just passed out after I did your stitches and you can thank me for saving your sorry ass from Freeze. But bacon is a good.”

 

“I have coffee too if that helps, and yes, thank you saving me.”

 

“Well it’s good to know someone appreciates all of my amazing talents.” Jason said, grabbing a cup of coffee from Roy and sitting down at the table. He pulls out a laptop and logs in, loading up Roy’s file. “So what’s all this about Luthor and a clone?”

 

“That’s a long story, but basically I got abducted and cloned and no one noticed for 8 years, not even Oll- Green Arrow.” Roy corrected himself at the end of the sentence, still not exactly sure how much he could trust this guy.

 

“Relax Roy, I’m in the League database, I know the Green Arrow is Oliver Queen. Hell, I even know Bruce Wayne is Batman and that’s not in here.” Jason grins, he didn’t owe Bruce anything.

 

Roy’s jaw dropped as he stood there, stunned. That was until the bacon started burning and he got back to clicking. “Wait, really?! How do you know all of this, who are you? You said you wanted revenge on Batman and Nightwing or something?”

 

“I told you, I’m Jason, Jason Todd. Used to be Robin, then the Joker beat me with a crowbar and blew me up, don’t worry I got better.” Jason casually explained like it was nothing, enjoying being able to honestly speak with someone who might understand a fraction of what he was feeling. “So now I’m here, taking out the bad guys how it should be done.”

 

“Wait you died? Like actually died?”

 

“Yeah, it wasn’t fun, wouldn’t recommend it.”

 

“But… how?”

 

Jason laughs, “You had better pull up a chair, it’s a bit of a long story. Have you heard of Ra’s Al-Ghul..?”

 

**_10:13_ **

 

“So let me get this straight. The Joker killed you, then Talia used a magic pit to raise you from the dead and trained you as a super assassin before letting you loose on the world?” Roy asked, still shocked.

 

“Yeah, pretty much.” Jason nods while looking through files on the laptop. “I skimmed over a lot of the details, like Ducra and the All-Caste, but you have the basics.”

 

“What about after?” Roy cocks his head to the side.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“After you’ve finished with all of this, with Batman and Nightwing and the Joker. What then?”

 

“I… I don’t really know…” That gave Jason pause, he had planned out so many different scenarios in his head. Contingencies for how to deal with Batman, with Nightwing and the Team, with the Joker. But  _ after _ ? He hadn’t given  _ after  _ any thought at all. He didn’t have any family, no friends to speak of, beyond his current crusade… he doesn’t have a purpose.

 

“Well, you can hook up with me if you want. I mean team up… or just call if you need any help. Like you said, I owe you Jason but right now I think I’d just get in your way.”

 

Jason smiles at that, maybe one his first genuine smiles for a long time.

 

 

**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 23, 13:42_ **

 

Dick was still in his room. He even left it for a few days, he had barely showered and knew the stubble on his chin was making him look more and more like a homeless person but Dick didn’t care. He had more important things to worry about, he had to think about Wally.

 

There was a knock at his door, Dick thought about ignoring it for a moment.

 

“Dick! I know you’re in there. Open this door.” It was Artemis, she’d kick his butt if he didn’t answer the door, or just kick his door down, or both. He sighed and got up, wandering over towards the entrance to his apartment. “Now, Dick!”

 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.” Dick called out as he reached his door, opening it slightly. As soon as he did, Artemis barged in, pushing past him.

 

“Jesus Dick, you look like shit. And your apartment stinks. Seriously, when was the last time you went outside?” That almost brought a smile to Dick’s face, he missed her stubbornness and fortitude.

 

“I… what do you want Artemis?” Dick rubbed his left eye in tiredness.

 

“I know how you like to go and brood by yourself so I thought I’d check in on you. Just got back from Central City, I saw Bart, he’s pretending to be alright and he might have Jaime and Barry fooled, maybe even himself, but I can tell. They said they hadn’t seen you, in fact, no one has seen you, for a few days.”

 

“I’ve been busy. Look Arty, this really isn’t a good time. And I’ve been monitoring Bart,” Dick says, gesturing to a monitor showing a graining security feed of Bart’s hospital room. “He’s making progress.”

 

“Wow, he must feel so comforted by not knowing your creepily watching him in his hospital room. You’re one his role models Dick, especially after Wally… look, go visit. Talk to him. Get out of this damn apartment, the team needs you, now more than ever. Gar, Bart, Cassie, Tim for god’s sake! They all need you.”

 

“I know Artemis, but Wally needs me more-”

 

“He’s dead! We all saw, he’s dead!” Artemis shouted back, her eyes watering. “Do you know why you haven’t this to Bart or Barry yet? It’s because you know they’ll debunk your theory, you’re scared that all this data is just a bunch crap and then you’ll have to accept that Wally is dead. You’ve got to decide what’s more important to you Dick! Chasing after a ghost,” She yelled picking up the stack of papers he had been reading through, “Or your friends and family who need you!” Artemis motioned angrily to the monitor showing Bart and Jaime talking before storming out of his apartment, slamming the door behind her.

 

Dick stood still for a moment, her words still swirling around his mind.

 

He sunk to his knees with tears pouring down his cheeks.

 

 

**_Watchtower_ **

**_July 23, 20:45_ **

 

Bruce sat there watching the surveillance tapes again. There wasn’t much footage of the Red Hood, so it hadn’t taken him long to collate it all. His brain was hard at work, analysing fighting styles, movement patterns, martial skills. The Red Hood was good. His versatility shows multiple teachers with a variety of skills, something about the way he fights is familiar… There was something he was missing. He would have said it was League training, possibly mixed with something else, but the Red Hood’s MO was different. The League carried out assassinations for the the highest bidder and Ra’s Al-Ghul above all else. This guy was doing what he wanted, he didn’t serve anyone else’s larger agenda, there was a chaotic rogue element at work here. He needed answers and if this guy did train with the League then Bruce knew one place he could find them.

 

“Computer, prepare the Batplane and plot a course to Nanda Parbat, it’s time to pay Talia Al-Ghul a visit.”


	5. Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arguments and fights start to splinter the team while Bruce visits Nanda Parbat to speak to Talia about the Red Hood. Jason makes a bold move and sets up his final revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long to be uploaded, I had exams on and wasn't happy with it. I rewrote it a few times so there might be some errors in it, sorry if there are!

**_Gotham City_ **

**_July 23, 22:05_ **

 

Tim exited the zeta tube into a humid Gotham alleyway, the city could be almost unbearable in the heat of summer but luckily the weather had started to change. Although the heat had decreased the humidity that hung the air had an electricity to it. The air felt charged, like it was waiting for something to happen, like something bad was about to happen, Tim had the exact same feeling. So as he saw a shadow start to descend over him, he instinctively pulled a birdarang from his jacket pocket and threw it at the figure floating down towards him. It hit Cassie straight in the face.

 

“Ow! Tim what the fuck?” Cassie yelled in outrage as she floated down to the ground.

 

“I… er, shit. Hey Cassie…” Tim stammered, “What, what are you doing here?” He wasn’t sure what the guidelines were for accidentally throwing a bladed weapon at your girlfriend was, luckily his girlfriend was also Wonder Girl and could take a hit from Mammoth.

 

Cassie shakes her head, clearing her mind. “Tim I was worried about you… And since you still haven’t told me who your actual name or address or anything and you’ve haven’t been returning my texts or calls. Well you didn’t really leave me many options apart from hover around this zeta tube.”

 

“I haven’t…” Tim quickly pulls out his phone.

 

_ \-- You have 9 new messages -- _

 

_ // Cassandra Sandsmark (8) _

 

_ // Barbara Gordon (1) _

 

_ \-- You have 4 missed calls -- _

 

_ // Cassandra Sandsmark (4) _

 

“Oh.” Tim guiltily looks up from the screen to see Cassie frowning at him with her arms folded.

 

“Yeah Tim, oh. You said you’d call me this afternoon, arrange another date.”

 

“Oh.” Tim was at a loss for words, he never was very good at the sociable side… well of life, really. “I’ve been busy. Me and Conner have been… we’ve kinda been investigating the Red Hood.”

 

“Tim! Batman, literally the Batman himself, specifically told you to not look into this. He almost killed you and hospitalised Bart, what the hell were you thinking!” Cassie threw her arms up in frustration.

 

Tim pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, he could tell this conversation was going to go great.

 

**_22:23_ **

 

Tim was sat on a bench, he had been for a few minutes. Cassie had left a little while ago, and their conversation had gone as Tim thought it would. He didn’t think he’d been dumped, it was hard to tell through all of the yelling. Worse, she was going to tell the Team and Batman, he didn’t know how they’d react…

 

No use worrying about it now, he should just go tell Bruce first, it’d be better if he heard from Tim’s mouth than from Kaldur or Dick. He got up from the bench, putting his sunglasses back on and flagged down a cab. Getting into the back he barely glanced at the driver, too preoccupied with his own thoughts.

 

“Wayne Manor, please.”

 

In the front of the cab, Jason Todd grinned and nodded before driving off.

 

 

**_Nanda Parbat_ **

**_July 24, 00:54_ **

 

Bruce punched the fifty second ninja in the face, this was getting pedantic. He had come for answers, not a workout. Finally he saw Talia emerge from the crowd of her black clad followers. He thought he spotted a small boy behind her, it must have been his imagination.

 

“Halt!” She said in authoritative tone before smiling at him, “My love, you don’t write, you don’t call and then you just show up out of the blue and start beating up my men.”

 

“Talia. What have you done?” He growls out in his deepest voice.

 

“Quite a lot of things, most of which I know you’d disapprove of but I have done a few things you’ve liked.” She winked at Bruce, not many things could make Batman feel discomfort but Talia certainly could.

 

“The Red Hood. You trained him here, now he is Gotham. Who is he and what does he want?”

 

Talia sighs and looks away from Bruce’s eyes, “I was one of his teachers, one of many he had. But you seem to be mistaken, the Red Hood isn’t a man, my beloved. He is a revenant, he is the sins of your past, he is your demon, all I did was set him free.”

 

“I won’t ask again Talia.”

 

“There are some secrets I can’t divulge, not even to you. I’m sorry, my love, but your trip here has been wasted.”

 

 

**_Central City_ **

**_July 24, 07:54_ **

 

Bart looked over his bedside clock, it showed the time in big red digital numbers. Instinctively he looked around the room for Jaime then realised that he wasn’t in the hospital anymore, the doctors had discharged him the day before. Once they had removed the bullet and tried to repair his knee as best they could, they let his speedster healing factor do the work. And once he seemed stable and recovering well, they thought the best place for him to be was home, well it was Mr. Garrick’s home. Jay and Joan made him feel welcome and all, but this place still didn’t feel like home, this time still didn’t feel like home.

 

Bart sighed, he wished Jaime didn’t have to go home, but he had a life back in El Paso and Jay had insisted he went back to family. Jaime had practically never left Bart’s side since rushing him to hospital, now it felt like a familiar warmth had suddenly disappeared, leaving him shivering alone.

 

He tried to push the thoughts of Jaime out of his head, he was going to have to get used to not having Jaime around to help him. To make him smile and laugh. “Argh!” Bart mumbles, he was trying to  _ not  _ think about Jaime for once.

 

“Are you okay in there?” Jay called from outside.

 

Bart sighed, they had been fussing over him far too much since… the incident. Bart was going to punch that asshole in the face if he ever got the chance, after dismantling all of his toys this time. “Yes Mr. Garrick, I’m fine.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and grabbed the crutches from where they were leaning against the wall. Time to get up, time to get up and not spend the day moping and thinking about nice and funny and caring Jaime was.

 

He was so screwed.

 

 

**_Watchtower_ **

**_July 24, 08:34_ **

 

Artemis yawned, absentmindedly rubbing the sleep out of an eye. “Why did we have meet so urgently?” She asked looking around at the other people in the room.

 

“Because we all need to have a discussion.” Kaldur calmly stated, “In the past whenever we have kept secrets from each other or made decisions without open debate, it has harmed us.” He looked over at the other senior members of the Team, M’gann looked concerned but attentive, ready to help. Conner was avoiding meeting Kaldur’s eyes and sat sheepishly, playing with a pen. Artemis was glaring at Dick across the table, who really looked like he needed a shave and some sleep.

 

“The Team looks up to all of us for leadership, so we need to be frank and honest with each other.” Kaldur continued in his steady tone. “Conner, why have you been helping Robin investigate the Red Hood behind against Batman’s orders?”

 

“What?” Dick stood up from his chair looking shocked, “What the hell were you thinking?! The Red Hood is dangerous, he already beat you and put Bart in the fucking hospital!”

 

“Oh, you don’t get to talk!” Artemis jumped up from her chair, pointing an accusatory finger towards Dick. “You didn’t seem to care at the time! You weren’t here trying to help, you weren’t with me and Jaime as we rushed Bart back to Central City!”

 

“He’s my brother Artemis, of course I care! I just-” Dick started to retort but was interrupted by Conner.

 

“Then maybe you should act like Tim is your brother!” Conner stayed sat in his chair but his words were laced with anger.

 

“That isn’t fair Conner, he’s grieving, it’s been difficult for everyone but especially for Dick.” M’gann said quietly, trying her best to diffuse the situation.

 

“Well I’ve known Wally for literally my whole life and Artemis was dating the guy for  _ five  _ years! And you’re taking his side?” Conner turned on his ex angrily.

 

“Silence.” Kaldur ordered. Everyone turned to look at him expectantly, Kaldur may have been gone for several months but his words still carried weight. “We are here to discuss the situation, not shout at each other. If Batman could see all of us now he’d be ashamed that he ever gave us the chance to make this team what is today. So everybody, sit down.” His calm words restored order like a spell, everyone taking their seats once again. They were in a spare room in the Watchtower, it wasn’t an official meeting space, mainly used for mission briefings, with several monitors lining the room. Kaldur only hoped no one had been outside to hear that outburst.

 

 

**_Gotham City_ **

**_July 24, 08:36_ **

 

Jason watched the argument on his laptop. Bruce had bugged every single room of the Watchtower, he doubted even Clark knew about it. Fortunately, the Batplane was seen heading away from Gotham last night so Jason had the chance to break into the cave and put a backdoor into the batcomputer. It was surprisingly easy when you knew how, then all he had to was use Bruce’s tracking devices and hijack a cab.

 

And as a reward for his efforts, he poached himself a Robin.

 

“You really could make a reality show out of this, I barely even had to do anything. Actually I bet I could make a lot of money from selling these tapes, what do you think? I’m not the most business minded guy.” He turned around on his swivel chair to face Tim and ripped off the tape covering his mouth.

 

Jason paused for a moment, expecting Tim to say something but instead the young hero remained silent. Jason was still wearing his mask, he didn’t think Tim had paid any attention before he had gassed the back of the cab and tied him to a chair.

 

“Wow. Going for the stoic silent route, I thought Dick would have taught you better.” Jason chuckled as he saw Tim’s eyebrows raise slightly, he tried to cover his shock and surprise, he was good. Not good enough. “Yes, yes Timmy boy, I know who you are. I know who Bruce Wayne is. I know who Dick Grayson is, and Barbara and Conner and Artemis and Bart… I know everything Tim.”

 

“What do you want?” Tim said the words slowly and sternly.

 

“Oh there we are! He speaks! A nice cross between the big bad Batman and the less serious Robin, not too soft, not too hard. Let’s you see how I’d react to from a neutral reference point. Good technique kid, I like your style.”

 

“What do you want?” Tim repeated, a trace of anger creeping into his voice.

 

“Not that much, I’m not a greedy man. I want Bruce and Dick and the rest of them to stop sending innocent kids into war zones equipped with little more than a fancy costume. You’d think the death of one Robin would make them realise that it’s a terrible idea, maybe the death of a second Robin would make them think twice?” Jason studied Tim’s face, it barely twitched at the threat. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you, I need your help. In a minute I’m going to cut you free from that chair and you’ll use this laptop here to find the Joker.”

 

“And if I don’t?”

 

“Then I’ll have to tell your superfriends where you are. And they’ll come running, and I will gun them down one by one. Look on the laptop, I have access to the League database, to every international law enforcement agency’s archives and Batman’s personal network. I know every strength and every weakness, a fire grenade here and a kryptonite bullet there. They would have no idea what hit them. So Timmy, the choice is yours. Feel free, reach out to your friends tell them exactly where to find me, or find the Joker for me and you can walk free.”

 

“You can’t take them all, you couldn’t possibly fight all of them and the League.”

 

“No I couldn’t. But what happens when Conner hears about your kidnapping? He’ll come running, without any concern for his own safety. You know I can beat him, you know I could kill him. So sure, they’ll beat me, but what would the cost be him Tim? You know the the smart play, give me what I want and no one will get hurt, easy as that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and all your Kudos and Comments! Next chapter should be up reasonably soon (two weeks at most).


	6. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason lures Dick and the Team into a fight and confronts them. Tim finds some truth. Batman returns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this when I pretty tired and edited it a few times, so there may be a few mistakes, I apologise if there are.

**_Gotham City_ **

**_July 24, 18:38_ **

 

Bruce had been standing there for about 10 minutes now, the rain pouring down on his back. He kept reading the same words over and over again.

 

_ Here lies Jason Todd, a bird who flew for far too short a time. He will be forever cherished in the hearts of his family, friends and comrades. _

 

“Sir, are you sure you want to do this?” Alfred asked softly from under an umbrella.

 

He stood there for a moment longer, he did need to do this. He needed to see, to see proof, one way or the other. One word Talia had said kept ringing in his ears “Revenant”, a spirit which returns to the world in order to seek revenge. To inflict suffering and horrors on those who wronged him in life.

 

He had to know.

 

“Just give me the damn shovel Alfred.”

 

 

**_Watchtower_ **

**_July 24, 19:54_ **

 

“Have you seen Tim today?” Dick asked walking toward Conner with a worried look on his face.

 

“No, why?” Conner had calmed down since their meeting earlier that day but seeing the look on Dick’s face he suddenly started to worry. What had Tim done now? Was he investigating the Red Hood without Conner again? Was he just moping after his talk with Cassie? Why did Conner suddenly feel the need to search all of Gotham for him?

 

“I just… I mean I’m sure he’s fine. I just wanted to talk to him. I haven’t really been the best brother lately.” Dick’s phone pinged from his pocket. “That’s probably him now.”

 

 

**_Gotham City_ **

**_July 24, 19:54_ **

 

Jason watched Tim, his replacement was hard at work, flicking between three monitors, his fingers flying over the keyboard gracefully. Dick had tried to teach Jason hacking back when he had just become Robin, but he was too impatient for it, why bother spending a few hours extracting information from a database when you could just go punch some lowlifes in the face? During his recent training with Talia’s contacts he learnt to appreciate it and even got pretty good at it, but he wasn’t on Dick’s, let alone Tim’s level. As far as Jason could tell, the kid was cross referencing sightings of known possible associates of the Joker with the recent reported criminal activity all across America. He was feeding all that data into some kind of algorithm he had scripted that morning to look for a pattern. He worked hard under stress.

 

“You realise this will only produce a list of likely locations and I can’t guarantee how accurate and specific these locations will be. If I could pinpoint the Joker in one day, he would already be back in Arkham.” Tim glared at him.

 

“You really should work on your death glare Timmy, it’s not nearly as intimidating as Bruce’s. But don’t worry, I know you tried your hardest, the threat of attempted murder of all of your friends can be great motivation.” Jason replied, still under his mask. “Well I’m a man of my word, you’re free to go.”

 

Tim didn’t say anything or move for a moment, just staring at Jason. Surely he wasn’t just about let him go free? This had to be some kind of trick…

 

Jason leaned back in his chair, chuckling to himself. “Well the door is right there, I won’t stop you.”

 

It was hard to gauge any kind of body language from the Red Hood but something made Tim feel that he was being sincere. Either way, Tim thought going for the door was probably his best option, he already knew he couldn’t beat the Hood in a fight. He got up, keeping a cautious eye on the other man as he walked calmly towards the door to the grotty apartment.

 

“Of course then you’d never know the truth.” Tim should have kept going, should have walked out the apartment and contacted Batman and the Justice League. But he didn’t, something stopped him.

 

“What truth?” Tim asked, turning around to face Jason, somehow Tim could tell he was smiling under his mask.

 

“You can find that out yourself. Have a look on the laptop, I’m linked into the Batcomputer’s and the League’s central mainframe, I have access to everything.”

 

Tim shrugged, “You said so before, why am I still here?”

 

“I mean everything Timmy, even the bits Bruce doesn’t want you kids to look at, even the bits Bruce doesn’t want the rest of the League to see. Have a look, it’s a pretty interesting read. Now I have an errand to run, so enjoy yourself, everything on there is real, I promise you that.”

 

Tim was grabbed by a morbid curiosity, he knew Bruce had secrets, secrets from everyone, even him and the League and possibly even Dick. Tim turned back to the laptop and began searching through the files.

 

Jason grinned under his mask, now for the fun part. While he exited the building via the roof, he pulled out a phone, sending a text to Dick Grayson.

 

_ 16:56 - Nightwing, I have your little bird. Crime Alley, 10 minutes, come alone. --R.H. _

 

Jason had a skip in his step as he leapt from building to building, he had never realised how much fun it was to play the villain. 

 

**_20:04_ **

 

Dick landed almost silently in the shadow of Crime Alley, the Red Hood was stood there, right out in the open like he didn’t have a care in the world. Dick’s fist grasped the handle of the escrima stick harder, he felt blood begin to boil in his veins.

 

“You’re cutting it a bit close Nightwing, another two minutes really wouldn’t have been good for Robin’s long term health. I’m glad you made it, I kinda like the kid.” Jason called out, turning around to face him.

 

“I’m here.” Dick replied curtly.

 

“What, no banter? You really have sobered up. I guess all the blood on your hands must have finally caught up to you. Let me be clear. I have Robin in a room surrounded by enough explosives to make it look like July 4th.”

 

“What do you want?”

 

“A few things. I want you to stop giving kids a costume and then throwing them in front of bullets. I want to beat the shit out of you and make you suffer. I want you to break under the weight of your failure so you can really see how broken the world is. Then maybe you’ll understand. So come on Grayson, FIGHT ME!”

 

Dick’s eyes widen as the Red Hood talks, he knew who he was. How? Tim maybe? He saw the Hood taking out his pistols and Dick instinctively gets ready to throw an escrima stick to disarm him, but his opponent throws both of his guns to the ground and runs towards him with his fists out.

 

Dick’s face twisted into a sick smile, if this guy wanted to settle this the old fashioned way, Dick was fine with it. He had plenty of emotions to work through, dropping his escrima sticks, Dick charged, leaping at the Red Hood with his fists raised.

 

**_20:07_ **

 

_ “ _ M’gann, any progress yet?” Kaldur asked from his position at the front of the bioship.

 

“Not yet. There’s so many people to sift through, locating Tim is like trying to find an invisible needle in a haystack. Artemis have you found anything yet?” M’gann shook her head as she replied.

 

“No joy,” Artemis said, the frustration in her voice evident. “Not yet anyway. I’m running facial recognition all throughout the city. Have you reached Batman yet?”

 

“He’s still not answering… this is highly unusual.” Kaldur sat back, he knew they were under time pressure.

 

“He need to find him! Come on, we’ve been trained by the Justice League but we can’t find one kid?” Conner said, his voice getting louder with frustration.

 

Suddenly their comms buzzed with static before a new voice rang out. “Perhaps I could help out with that?” Conner could practically hear the smirk in Tim’s voice, only that kid could find a rescue party before they found him. “I’m Downtown in an apartment, what’s going on?”

 

“Robin, Nightwing thinks you’ve been kidnapped and are being held hostage. He’s meeting with the Red Hood right now, he told us that he would buy us time to find you.” Kaldur’s voice was calm but serious.

 

“Well he did kidnap me but he let me go and I’ve found… it doesn’t matter now. Go help Dick, whoever the Red Hood is, he’s 10 steps ahead of us already, I’ll rendezvous with you later.” There was another buzz as Tim shut off the comms.

 

**_20:08_ **

 

_ SMACK! _

 

The fist collided with Dick’s face at a near ninety degree angle. He didn’t know what hurt more, the pain or the Red Hood’s gleeful laughter.

 

“This is easy, you’re unfocused, unbalanced. Use your anger, don’t let it use you.”

 

 

**_January 16, 22:34_ **

**_3 Years Ago_ **

 

“Jason, come on! I knowed you’re pissed with Bats but you can do better than this. You’re unfocused and unbalanced, use your anger but don’t let it use you. Bruce gets pissed with everyone.” Dick ducked down, letting Jason’s fist sail harmlessly over his head.

 

“Yeah, like he ever gets angry at you, Golden Boy.” Jason snarled, yeah he had screwed up on patrol the night before, but that was only because Bruce didn’t trust him! If Dick had run off on his own he would have got a pat on the head, not being banned from patrolling for a week.

 

“He used to get angry with me all the time too, well not all the time. But still, I had worked with him for years before he was okay with me running off by myself, it takes time to build up that kind of trust, especially with him.”

 

Jason throws another punch that Dick dodges, before he knows what’s happening Dick has swept his feet out from under him and Jason hits the mat with a thump.

 

“You’re being too impulsive Jason, you have to wait until the right time before you make your move. Now come on, let’s go see what Alfred has upstairs.” Jason takes Dick’s outstretched hand, hoisting himself onto his feet and smiles.

 

“You gotta show me how you do that sweep so quickly.”

 

 

**_July 24, 20:09_ **

**_Now_ **

 

“What?” Dick asked, something about the way the Red Hood moved, the way he spoke, what he said, seemed eerily familiar. “Who are you?” Thoughts swirled around his head, a fog of pain stopping him from thinking clearly.

 

“No one, not any more.” Jason said with a chuckle as Dick raised his arm to block the incoming hook but he only collided with air, the move was a feint. A fresh wave of pain shot through his body as an uppercut collided with Dick’s jaw, he was sent spiralling backwards, colliding with the cold concrete of Crime Alley.

 

“Come on Dick, this is just disappointing.” Dick remains silent as he spits out blood onto ground, getting onto one knee. His mask had fallen off his face, Dick glared up, blood pumping in his veins.

 

Jason stood over Dick, for all of the Boy Wonder’s skills and training, he hadn’t lasted long. Dick really was off his game, Jason had expected it to be harder than this, the victory almost felt hollow.

 

“You know what your problem is Dick? You lack conviction. You don’t have real strength, the strength you need to do what’s required. Instead you send a team of kids off to stop some psychopath. Then they break out of Belle Reve or Arkham six months later and the whole thing starts again. The wheel keeps spinning, crushing all of the innocent lives under it. Robin. Aquagirl. Kid Flash. How many more lives will take for you to see your error?”

 

“You know… what your problem is?” Dick spat the words out at him, breathing heavily, “You’re alone.”

 

“Wow, that ship really is silent.” The Bioship materialised above Jason with Kaldur, Conner, Artemis and M’gann dropping out of it around him. They took up combat positions around him, Dick slowly getting back up to his feet. “So that’s your big play is it? Stall until they get Tim to safety and get here to back you up, ballsy.”

 

“Robin is safe. Surrender Red Hood you are surrounded and outmatched.” Kaldur’s stern voice cut through the tension of the stand off.

 

“I don’t think so.”

 

Suddenly M’gann yells out in pain, clutching her head, the rest of the team stumbling back slightly.

 

“What did you do?!” Yells Connor, shaking his head, trying to regain focus.

 

“M’gann had a look inside of my head, so all I had to was recall the most horrible thing I could possibly think of, then you all felt it through psychic feedback.” Jason explained calmly.

 

 

**_Qurac_ **

**_February 4, 21:09_ **

**_3 Years Ago_ **

 

“Nightwing I see him! I see the Joker, going after him.” Jason ran behind the cover of an AC unit on the rooftop of a military barracks. He glanced over the dusty compound to see that creepy clown entering a warehouse, he must be only fifty metres away.

 

“Negative Robin. Superboy, Aqualad and I are still all engaged, do not proceed.” Dick’s voice came over the comms. But he was  _ so _ close. The Joker would just get in a plane or a heli and they wouldn’t see him again for a few months and all of these stakeouts and innocent lives lost would be for nothing. He would just get away again. Not this time. Jason could do this, he could prove himself, to Bruce, to Dick and to the Team. Then maybe they’d trust him with more than recon.

 

Jason jumped from the rooftop, rolling into a sprint, crossing the gap between himself and the warehouse in a matter of moments. “I’m going in Dick, I can get this son of a bitch!”

 

“Negative, Robin, do not engage!” As he entered the darkness of the warehouse Jason switched his visor to night vision. Just in time to see the crowbar smack his face.

 

He hit the floor, gasping at the pain, vision blurring. His comm must have fallen out of his ear, he could just make out Dick’s voice. “Robin? Robin, Report! Jason… God damn it…”

 

Then he was distracted by the pale face looming over him.

 

“Well, well, well. It looks like I’ve caught a poor little birdie.”

 

The next few minutes are a blur of pain and terror, Jason only remembers bits and pieces, vivid flashes.

 

“What hurts more? A?” SMACK. “Or B?” SMACK.

 

“Forehand?” SMACK. “Or backhand?” SMACK.

 

Jason tries to call out Dick’s name but his body can’t shape the words. He wanted to call out to Bruce to his parents or his friends. To anyone. In the end sheer hopelessness consumed him, panic and terror like Jason had never thought possible. Then the bomb went off and it all went black.

 

 

**_Gotham City_ **

**_July 24, 20:12_ **

**_Now_ **

 

Jason looked around at the staggering heroes around him, they thought they were strong. They thought they knew fear. They thought they knew pain. They had never known death.

 

“Let’s put all the cards on the table then. I know who all of you are but none of you seem to have managed to guess who I am. Any ideas? Dick?” Jason raised a hand to the release button on the back of his helmet.

 

“No... “ Dick murmured looking up at him, staring in horror.

 

Jason laughs as the helmets hisses and releases his head. He drops it on the ground next to his feet and stares Dick in the eyes.

 

“Stop this madness now Jason!” Bruce swoops down behind him, landing perfectly on the rain swept cobbles of Crime Alley. Jason could see the rage, the sympathy, the conflict and confusion in Bruce’s cowled face. Just then he saw Tim run into the Alley, looking on the scene in utter horror. This was going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning to upload this yet but I started writing and ended up finishing the chapter, so the big reveal finally happened! Sorry to leave to it on a cliffhanger but thanks for reading! I'm going away for a fortnight now, so I have no idea when I'll be able to write and upload the next chapter, hopefully soon but I can't promise anything. As always, thanks for reading!


	7. Refraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After certain facts are brought out into the light for the whole team to see, Tim's and everyone else's trust in Batman might be permanently damaged.

**_Gotham City_ **

**_July 24, 20:13_ **

 

The only noise was the rain hitting the cold cobbles of Crime Alley. Jason stood in the middle of the heroes, Dick, Artemis, Kaldur, M’gann, Conner and now Bruce and Tim. They were staring at him in disbelief, entirely unsure about what to do. Kaldur or Bruce would be the first to move, they were the most objective and emotionally steady of the bunch. M’gann had already just tried to use her telepathy and failed, she wouldn’t be confident enough to use it again in a fight, this might extend to her telekinesis and density shifting if Jason was lucky. Conner was angry, like he always used to be and kidnapping Tim will have made him a very angry clone, he would go in full power without thinking. Artemis and Dick were already in mourning, his return would just unbalance them further and Dick was already hurt, they’d be easily fight if it was just them. That left Tim, Jason didn’t know how’d he respond, hopefully his inquisitive mind would have lead him to read Bruce’s files on the laptop. All things considered, he shouldn’t try and take this fight, not when he was so close to his vengeance, but he couldn’t resist the chance to toy with them a bit more.

 

“You can’t hope to win this Jason.” Bruce’s voice growled out from under his cowl. “I don’t want to fight you.”

 

Jason smiled and Bruce and kicked his mask over to Bruce’s feet. “When I first joined the Team I asked you how a man like you can be in the Justice League, how can we fight alongside gods? Do you know what you said? You can’t always be the fastest or the strongest or even the toughest, but you can be the most prepared.” Jason laughs, “I don’t need to fight you Bruce, I’ve already won.”

 

At that, Conner growls and charges in, a fist aimed toward his now exposed head. Jason pulls his fist from his pocket, showing a glowing kryptonite ring on it, the two fists collide into each other, Conner howling in pain as he stumbles backward from the hit. Tim and M’gann run to Conner, catching him as he falls backward, Kaldur and Bruce react next, Jason throws a small capsule at Kaldur. It explodes into a pink foam, engulfing him, while he pulls a pistol out and starts firing shots at Bruce. The frequency jammer in his jacket pocket would stop Bruce calling for League or Team help but Jason wasn’t about to win a fight against Dick, Artemis and Bruce. Their metas and aliens were momentarily down, now was his chance to escape. Bruce fires a cable at him, trying to entangle him while Artemis pulls out a sword, advancing towards Jason, simultaneously Dick was standing in front of Conner and Kaldur defensively. Before Bruce’s cable even goes tight, Jason severs it with the jagged Damascus steel knife Talia gave him, pressing a button on his belt, explosives erupt in the buildings around them, showering everyone in smoke and debris. By the time the smoke cleared Jason was nowhere to be seen.

 

After a few minutes of running through the lead lined sewers below Gotham, Jason was pretty sure he had lost the group. He came to a stop, panting slightly. He pulled an earpiece from his jacket and called up Roy.

 

“Jason? You’re not dead or locked up in Arkham yet? Guess I owe you twenty dollars.”

 

“I told you it would go fine. Now what have you got on the joker?” Jason replied smirking.

 

“Well I looked over what Tim did and I think I’ve managed to isolate all of the fake data he put into the algorithm, that kid’s coding is like divine inspiration. I’ll use his search algorithm again with both Ra’s and Luthor’s data, see if we can’t narrow that clown’s location down a bit further.” Roy sighed from the other end of the call, “You really should take me to the next fight, lasers can be pretty useful and I’m getting bored here.”

 

“Nah, you’re my ace in the hole, I’ll need you later on. Heading back to base, see you there.”

 

“Whatever you say Jaybird, over and out.”

  
  


**_Watchtower_ **

**_July 24, 20:21_ **

 

_ “Recognised, Kid Flash, B23.” _ Jaime immediately looked up from the card game towards the the zeta tubes to see Bart limp in on his crutches. A smile lights up the speedster’s face when he sees Jaime and the rest of Team. Bart was in civvies and a long way from being back to healthy, even with his healing factor but the something about him still made Jaime’s heart pound a bit faster.

 

“Hermano! You’re back!” Jaime stood up from where he was seated at the table with Cassie, Logan and Barbara and ran over to Bart. He was about to give the speedster a hug when he suddenly felt very embarrassed about doing it in front of everyone, it wasn’t like it was a big thing, they had hugged a few times since the ‘incident’, it was normal right? Luckily Bart saved him from standing there awkwardly not doing anything by high fiving his semi-outstretched hand. Jaime started smiling again at that and the two heroes walked over to the others who had all gotten up from their game.

 

Unfortunately the happy reunion was broken up quickly as the zeta tubes powered up again,  _ “Recognised, Batman, 02. Nightwing, B01. Superboy, B04…”  _ The group hurriedly marched into the Watchtower, Batman growling orders out. “Wonder Girl take Superboy to the infirmary, Batgirl with us, the rest of you stay here. Nightwing, Miss Martian, Aqualad, Robin, Tigress and Batgirl follow me for full debrief, now.”

 

“Wait, you’re not going to tell them?!” Everyone froze as Tim’s voice rang out across the room. He stood there, hands on his hips and even though he was wearing a mask, Jaime could tell that Robin was mad.

 

“Robin. Now.” Batman turned around to face his protege, his voice not as calm and collected as usual.

 

“This is bullshit, they’re all in danger!” Tim marched over to the computer terminal on the wall, pullin a flash drive from his pocket.

 

“Tim! Not here!” Batman shouted, something bad had definitely happened, Jaime did what all the other heroes in the room did, silently stood still and watched the drama.

 

“No, sorry but this is too far.” Tim put the drive in the computer, files and folders flashing up on the screen. He turned to face the Team. “Red Hood can beat us all because he was one of us, he’s Robin, the second one. And I got all this data from his laptop.”

 

“Wait didn’t he die Tim..?” Cassie called out, a wounded Superboy leaning on her shoulder.

 

“This data is everything about us. Our strengths and weaknesses, our fighting techniques, our identities, friends and family It’s all here, addresses, phone numbers even social security numbers, blueprints and designs for tech and equipment to counter each and everyone of our powers and abilities.” Tim was in full on rant mode, staring directly into Batman’s eyes. “But he didn’t make these files did he? You did, you made a file on each of us. A contingency plan to take down anyone here-”

 

“Robin, you know it’s necessary-”

 

“I’m not done! He could have gone after my fucking parents! You say you trust us and then you do this? And you put secret cameras in all of the places you said were Team rooms. You should have just given Jason some more bullets to shoot us with!” With that, Tim grabs Conner from Cassie’s shoulder and takes him towards the infirmary, no one in the room tried to stop him, even Batman was at a loss for words. Nightwing mumbles something about talking to Tim and takes off after them while the rest of the Team look in shock at the files on the screen. Jaime found his eyes wandering over Bart’s section.

 

_ // COUNTERMEASURES: _

 

  * __Tactile Taser [Blueprint], will disable subject upon physical contact, most of the subjects attacks will be melee based at a high velocity, too fast to directly counter with hand to hand combat.__


  * _Sedative [Formulae], if able to administer a sedative, subject’s metabolism will quickly break the chemical formula down. Either attack quickly once subject is dosed or repeatedly dose subject to continue effects._


  * _Emotional response, harming or disabling [Jaime Reyes; Blue Beetle; B22], subject will likely respond by either attacking the agressor or attempting to move JR to safety. Subject will respond illogically and irrationally._



 

 

The file went on and on, data on the Garrick residency, his high school, almost every concieveable scrap of information that could be used against Bart about had been summed up in a cold and efficient file. Jaime felt his fist tighten, no doubt there was one for him too and after what had happened with the Reach maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. But what about his family? They’d be in there and his friends in El Paso… Batman had put them all in danger, what if the Light had found that file and not some dead psycho in a red mask? Batman had gone to far this time.

  
  


“Stop moving, it’ll only make it worse!” Tim sighed as he plucked the last tiny fragment of kryptonite from Conner’s fist using a pair of tweezers.

 

“Sorry.” Conner let out a deep breath of relief as he withdrew his hand from the medical table. “I’m just not used to the pain. Kryptonite really stings. Where the hell did Jason even get it from?”

 

Tim furrows his brow as he puts the tiny shard of kryptonite in a lead box, closing it. “One of Bruce’s vaults outside of Prague, as far as I can tell he took a whole armoury worth of weapons.”

 

Conner suddenly felt a tension in the air, “So. Back there, with Bruce. That was really something, I’ve never seen you that angry at anyone before, not even Ra’s.”

 

Tim snorts, “That guy is a creep but at least he’s honest about it, Bruce kept all of this hidden. And that’s not even the worst part, not the secrets or the lies or even the the mistrust. It’s his arrogance.” Conner raises an eyebrow, looking at Tim with concern but he continues on. “He didn’t even make a plan for himself. You saw how easily Jason dismantled us all.” Tim sat down next to Conner and looked in his eyes. Conner saw something he had never seen in Tim’s eyes before, not his usual calmness nor that look he got when he was figuring out out some clever plan. Conner saw fear. “Jason could have killed anyone of us, he could have killed you Conner, or Bart or even my parents.”

 

Conner put an arm around Tim’s shoulders trying to comfort him just as Tim started sobbing.

  
  


**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 24, 21:46_ **

 

Dick sat in his office chair in his apartment, absentmindedly slowly spinning in circles with his head in his hands. The day’s event had taken a toll on him, both physically and emotionally. Jason was alive but an evil psychopath out to destroy him. Bruce had made a plan to destroy the entire Team and League. No one is going to trust Bruce or him anymore, he had lied to them in the past as well. Tim didn’t even want to speak to him when went after him to the infirmary, it sounded like he had been crying.

 

There was a knock at the door to his apartment, then several more when he didn’t respond. Dick didn’t want to face whoever it was, his mentor doesn’t trust him, his friends probably hate him, one of his ‘brothers’ is a murderous maniac and the other despises him. It was like everything good in his life disappeared with Wally.

 

Wally. At the thought of his best friend, he started crying into his hands.

 

Eventually M’gann phased through the wall and opened the door from the inside for Kaldur, Artemis and Conner to come in. Dick wasn’t really processing what was happening but he was fairly sure someone was hugging him before Kaldur’s clear voice cut through the emotional fog.

 

“Dick, with everything that’s happened, it’s clear we need all need to help each other. We’re friends and we have been for years, neither Jason nor Bruce can take that away from us. And since Jason’s return, some of our… perspectives have changed. We’d like to see your data on Wally."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading as well as any comments, kudos or whatever else you left here! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, this arc is coming to a close, probably just a few more chapters to go.


	8. Reconnaissance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me through this bit of a hiatus, posts should start coming every week or so now. As usual it's not Beta'd and it's a bit short but that's just how I live my life I guess. This arc should be finishing up in the next few chapters and then I'll switch the focus a bit. Thanks for reading, giving kudos, commenting and all that good stuff!

**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 25, 18:32_ **

 

It had been a day since Tim’s outburst and the revelation of Bruce's files. After the day's events Kaldur had dismissed the Team, thinking it would be best for everyone to hopefully cool down by themselves. By the look of the faces of the young heroes gathered in the dimly lit Bludhaven warehouse they hadn't forgotten about it.

 

Dick looked over the crowd and cleared his throat, “Hey everyone, thanks for coming I know yesterday was testing for everyone but I'm glad to see we're all here.”

 

From the front row of the crowd Barbara interrupted him. “Cut the crap Nightwing, why are we here? What's going on?”

 

Dick smiled to himself, trust Barbara to get straight to the point, he nodded, recomposing himself. “Alright. What Batman did was a really shitty thing and before anyone asks, no, I didn’t know. It’s clear Batman doesn’t trust us as much we all thought he did, that’s why we’re meeting here today.” Dick looks towards Conner and Kaldur, who gives him a small but encouraging nod. “We formed this Team by doing what we thought was right, not what we were told. We’re not soldiers or comrades, we’re not the Justice League or some international task force, we’re friends. Me and the other senior members of the Team have decided it would be best for everyone to go back to basics, so for the time being we’ll be based out of here, until I can get nicer arrangement settled.”

 

He took a deep breath in, he wasn’t sure how the Team would react to what he had to say next. “Our current priority has to be the Red Hood. So I should answer everyone’s questions. His real name is Jason Todd, he was Robin after me and unfortunately he was murdered by the Joker on a mission to Qurac. M’gann mind linked to him and we all saw memories of his death so the unfortunate logical conclusion is that he his body was taken from his grave and he was somehow resurrected. Jason was one of us, he was my brother, so it’s our responsibility to bring him in. Let me be clear, this will be dangerous and it is completely voluntary, if you don’t want to participate then feel free to go home now, no will judge you for it.”

 

The room was silent for a moment, no one moving a muscle before Artemis walked up to Dick from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Told you no one was going to leave. It’s like you said; we’re friends, we look out for each other.”

 

From the crowd, Jaime spoke up, looking over at Bart who was still on his crutches. “Yeah, plus we owe that  _ bastardo _ for hurting Bart and abducting Tim!”

 

There was generally murmurings of agreement and support from everyone as Kaldur addressed everyone. “Good, everyone get prepared, mission briefing in twenty minutes.”

 

**18:36**

 

A few minutes after, Bart and Jaime found themselves chatting in the corner of the warehouse, the usual hum of activity going on around them that everyone was used to before a big mission like this.

 

“I just feel so useless, I wish I could get out there with the rest of you and help.”

 

“Bart, last time we went up against this guy he almost killed you, maybe it’s a good thing you won’t be out in the field this time. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be useless, I’m sure you can help ‘Wing out running the mission.”

 

Bart shrugged in what was almost agreement, “I mean, I guess. But what if my leg never heals properly, what if I can’t run again? How many people would suffer because I couldn’t save them, just because I was an idiot and rushed in without thinking…”

 

He trailed off, looking away and Jaime felt a pang of sympathy for the speedster. “Hey, snap out of it  _ hermano, _ you can’t think like that. Bart, if anyone can find a way to be a hero, even if you can’t run, it would be you. You’re the strongest person I know, your whole world was screwed up so you literally went back in time and changed history to fix it. If an apocalypse can’t stop you, then a psycho with some fancy toys and a few guns doesn’t stand a chance.”

 

Bart looked up into Jaime’s eyes and for the first time in a week Jaime saw no self loathing or insecurities. He saw hope.

  
  


**Gotham City**

**July 27, 21:46**

 

“Cancel the cavalry Impulse, it was just some idiot mugger with a red mask, he’s all tied up and ready for the GCPD to pick him up.” Tim sighed as he finished restraining the criminal in question, the Team had been all hands on deck searching for any sign of Jason or the Joker but hadn’t been able to produce any real results so far. They managed to locate and raid two of the Red Hood’s safe houses but it looked like most of the equipment had already been relocated, someone trained by both the League of Assassins and Batman tended to be annoyingly elusive.

 

“Roger that Robin, do you need me to call in the cops? I’ve got nothing better to be doing…” Bart had thrown himself into helping Nightwing run the search operation from the warehouse but was obviously getting frustrated with the lack of progress.

 

“Nah, I think Batgirl has it covered, you any good with that wheelchair yet?” Bart had already designed and helped build his own custom wheelchair built for high speeds in an effort to stave off boredom and from what Tim had heard from Dick, Bart had read about half of the public library.

 

“Heh, I’m already faster than you on this, you’ll be calling me Hot Wheels by the end of the week. Oh, it looks like some alarm is going off in the East End, best get to it Boy Wonder, and remember if you see the Hood or the Joker-”

 

“Call for backup first and engage later, I know Bart. Over and out.” That had become the Team’s mantra over the last couple of days, they didn’t want a repeat experience with the Red Hood and Tim knew how dangerous the Joker could be first hand. He double checked the mugger was unconscious and secured properly before jogging over where Barbara was standing watch nearby. Everyone had been partnered up into pairs for the search and while Tim enjoyed Barbara’s company she often mothered him a bit too much. It wasn’t that Barbara or Dick didn’t trust him or his abilities as Robin, they were just overly concerned for him after the abduction and Tim couldn’t really blame for that. It didn’t stop Tim from missing hanging out with Conner. Maybe it was the Boy of Steel’s silent confidence or his nonjudgmental support but Tim missed him.

 

“The alarm in the East End?” Barbara asked as Tim approached, nodding, “Police are already on their way but I reckon we can beat them there.

 

Tim’s only response was to grin and take the grappling gun from his utility belt, swinging through Gotham was usually a pretty good way to clear his head.

  
  


**Gotham Docks**

**July 28, 02:43**

 

Jason pulled the trigger of his silenced pistol one last time before approaching the last living occupant of the warehouse. The Joker coughed repeatedly in the corner, his cheap purple suit pulled over his mouth in an effort to stop the gas Jason had launched into the middle of the arms deal. It had taken a while and a great deal of sifting through data from Tim’s algorithm, the League’s network and files stolen from Luthor but he had managed to track down this gun deal and the Joker with it.

 

“Ha, you know gas is terribly unfair, horrendous for the lungs as well…” The Joker laughed through coughs, “Now, who are you? Usually it’s only people I know who try and kill me.”

 

“Oh don’t worry freak,” Jason grinned under his mask, holstering the pistol and drawing out a crowbar from his belt. “We go way back.”

 

“Well good,” The Joker smiled manically before launching himself at Jason with a concealed knife grasped in his hands, “I’d hate to stab a stranger.”

  
There was a satisfying  _ THUNK _ sound as the crowbar collided with Joker’s temple, his pale figure crumpling onto the bloody concrete floor. Jason pressed the communicator button on the outside of his helmet, “Yeah, I’m all done here Roy. You all set up on your end?” Evading the Team had been a pain but his plan was finally coming to fruition, soon this would all be over.


	9. Reckoning

**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 28, 23:16_ **

 

Dick held the pistol in his hands, it was lighter than he expected, a product of its sleek custom design. He knew there was an extended magazine that held 17 rounds plus one in the chamber made 18 shots, more than enough. The biggest challenge would be aiming, there were no iron sights on the gun so he’d have to aim the shot the old fashioned way, luckily Bruce had made sure that guns were included in Dick’s training regime, even if he despised them. He knew that he wasn’t going to get a second shot so he didn’t need to worry about recoil, he had to make this one count.

 

“This ends now.” Dick uttered as he steadied his breathing and rapid heartbeat, raising the gun grasped in his hands, a determined look on his face.

 

_ BANG! _

  
  


**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 28, 22:16_ **

**_1 Hour Ago_ **

 

Bart cursed as he stabbed himself in the finger with his sewing needle, again. His attempts to upgrade the insulative lining of his Kid Flash suit was proving to be as dangerous as a fight with the Reach. He sighed and tried again, the speedster’s tongue poking out ever so slightly as he intently concentrated. Just as he was about to finally complete the stitch, the communication array sprang to life, causing him slip and draw a drop of blood yet again.

 

“Shit- Err, Superboy?”

 

Conner’s voice came through the speakers hurriedly and urgently, no small talk or banter. “Bart I have a positive match on Red Hood. San Francisco, just outside a warehouse on Pier 80, talking to someone, appears unarmed.”

 

Bart instantly leapt into attention, they had been waiting for a lucky break for days and he wasn’t going to spoil it. “Roger that, reinforcements en route, wait for further instruction and continue to observe from a safe distance. Good luck Conner.”

 

He called out to Dick who had finally decided to get a few hours sleep somewhere in the back of the warehouse before alerting the entire Team.

 

“This is an all-points bulletin, we have a positive ID on the Red Hood in San Francisco, Pier 80. We have a Zeta tube exit nearby, rendezvous with Superboy and Static at these coordinates but do not engage yet.” Bart suddenly felt very tense as he sent out the message, receiving several signals of acknowledgement from various Team members. His thoughts turned to Jaime and their last encounter with Jason, a knot of worry twisting in his stomach as Dick entered the room with a cup of coffee and a business look on his face.

 

“Where?”

 

“San Fran, the Team’s en route to help.” Bart paused for a moment, “Should we call in the League or maybe just Batman?”

 

Dick silently shook his head, taking a long sip of his coffee as he surveyed the data on the screens in front of him. “No, Jason’s our responsibility. We need this, we need to show Batman and the League we can handle ourselves solo, clean up our own messes.”

 

Bart nodded, even though he didn’t completely agree, now wasn’t the time for insubordination. It didn’t stop him being worried out of his mind.”

 

Dick clearly picked up on it as he put a reassuring hand on Bart shoulder, a sympathetic smile forming on his face. “Don’t worry, Jaime’s a smart kid and well armored, he’ll be fine Bart.”

 

Bart nodded, trying to convince himself. “Yeah, of course… Why- why would I be worried about him…” Bart suddenly realised he was blushing and quickly coughed, turning his attention back to the monitors.

 

Dick chuckled to himself and shook his head, moving his focus back to the matter at hand. Tigress and Wonder Girl had already made it San Francisco, Robin and Batgirl were almost at the Gotham Zeta tube while Miss Martian and Beast Boy were flying at full speed down the West Coast from Seattle. Every single member of the Team were all converging to show Jason the wrath of god.

 

Dick didn’t know how to feel, Jason was his little brother, his greatest shame but also a psychotic murderer obsessed with destroying him. Something underneath it all seemed off to Dick, maybe if he could see it all objectively, filter out all his feelings toward Jason then he could figure it out. But he wasn’t Batman or a psychopath, he just had to hope that this was enough.

 

He snapped himself back to the present, Bart was coordinating everyone’s movements, starting to set up a perimeter around the pier. Luckily it was out of business hours but San Francisco was always busy, Bart was trying to use hacked traffic lights to move public transport and general traffic away. Ever since Wally’s disappearance and his maiming at Jason’s hands Bart had changed, shedding some of his less mature, and well  _ impulsive _ , tendencies. He had been reading, learning, designing. Even just  _ thinking  _ more, well except when it came to Jaime but Dick could forgive him for that, being a vigilante speedster time traveller from the future probably made it hard to make friends, or maybe something more than friends, Dick hadn’t been paying much attention recently.

 

“ETA is 40 minutes.” Dick only nodded solemnly in response.

  
  


**_San Francisco_ **

**_July 28, 23:08_ **

 

After about quarter of an hour the Red Hood has gone inside the warehouse, the contact he was talking to left on a boat not long before. Conner had almost been tempted to follow it but Jason took priority, pairs of heroes has slowly been arriving, with M’gann and her Bioship arriving last. A storm cloud rumbled overhead, initially Conner thought magic and omens were tricks and falsehoods but over the years his horizons had been expanded and he had a bad feeling about this.

 

He glanced around the other heroes gathered on the rooftop with him, they were the strike force, hopefully Jason would just surrender to them but Conner thought that unlikely. Artemis, Tim and Barbara for their martial prowess, Jaime, Virgil and himself for power.

 

Tim gave him a curt nod, it was showtime. Robin was young, although then again Conner was technically younger, yet he had one of the sharpest minds Conner had ever known. Detective work, battle strategy, technology and coding all seemed to come naturally to him. Conner had been designed as living weapon but he was sure that Tim could beat him in a fight. He had tried to comfort and help Tim after his ordeal at Jason’s hands but Tim didn’t seem changed at all by it. Maybe it was just Tim being bad at talking about his feelings, Clark told Conner it was a trait he got from Bruce. Anyway speaking of Jason, Conner pulled himself together.

 

As Conner was about jump from the roof and into the warehouse, a sudden small series of explosions, spread out throughout the city simultaneously went off.

  
  


**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 28, 23:09_ **

 

Dick and Bart sat silently in front of the monitors, waiting for something, anything, to happen. Tim’s voice came over the comms, “Ops, we have a problem. The Red Hood isn’t here, some stooge was paid to wear the mask. We have confirmation of multiple explosions, all the Zeta tubes here have been destr-”

 

All the monitors and lights in the room suddenly blinked off leaving Dick and Bart in the pitch black darkness. Dick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, how could he have been so stupid? It seemed so obvious now, a simple bait and switch.

 

“The emergency lighting should kick in soon. Bart I need you go to one of back rooms and hide, he shouldn’t know you’re so you’ll be safe.”

 

“Wait! What? What happened to them?”

 

“Nothing, they’re fine, Jaime is fine. We’re not and you’re in no condition to fight, so get to safety. Now.”

 

Bart nodded in understanding and wheeled away as the dim red emergency lighting came online, it cast the room in an ominous crimson hue. Dick stretched his arms, he had mostly recovered from his last fight with Jason, physically at least.

 

There was a dull boom from the roof of the warehouse base as a reaching charge ripped open a hole in it, Dick moved to avoid the dust and debris from above as Jason rappelled down through the opening, a wriggling, hooded figure draped over his shoulder. No helmet this time, just a familiar domino mask over his eyes.

 

“Hey honey, I’m home.” Jason chuckled with sadistic glee as he met Dick’s focussed expression. “What, no banter? You really need to lighten up, maybe this will do the trick. I brought along our favorite clown.” Jason angrily pulled the hood from over the Joker’s face, showing a pale and blood streaked face, a gag in the clown’s mouth.

 

“Surrender, make this easy. The Team is on the way, you can’t win.” Dick said calmly, trying to betray no emotion.

 

“Well technically you’re not lying, they will be on their way. Sadly, I had all the Zeta tubes near San Fran blown up and kneecapped your speedster, so all your little martyrs are on the wrong coast with no way to get back here.” The grin on Jason’s face widened as he kept speaking. “Don’t you see, this is the endgame. This is what all of this is about. You, me and this freak. I’ve pushed you to your limits but now I’m going to break you.”

 

Jason tossed a pistol to Dick, from it’s holster on his belt, who caught it with ease. “What do you think will happen Hood, I’m not going to shoot him.”

 

Jason laughed as he tightened his headlock on the Joker, using him like a human shield before grabbing his second pistol and pressing the barrel to the Joker’s neck. “No? Then I will. The only way you’re going to stop me is if you kill me yourself. What’s it going to be, Golden Boy? Let me kill someone right in front of you or stop me by killing me?”

 

The Joker began laughing maniacally through his gag. Dick looked down at the pistol in his hands, entirely unsure of what to do, lets his former murder someone or become a killer himself? What would Bruce do? How would Batman get out of this situation like he always seemed to?

 

Dick held the pistol in his hands, it was lighter than he expected, a product of its sleek custom design. He knew there was an extended magazine that held 17 rounds plus one in the chamber made 18 shots, more than enough. The biggest challenge would be aiming, there were no iron sights on the gun so he’d have to aim the shot the old fashioned way, luckily Bruce had made sure that guns were included in Dick’s training regime, even if he despised them. He knew that he wasn’t going to get a second shot so he didn’t need to worry about recoil, he had to make this one count.

 

“This ends now.” Dick uttered as he steadied his breathing and rapid heartbeat, raising the gun grasped in his hands, a determined look on his face.

 

_ BANG! _

 

Jason looked stunned as the bullet pierced the barrel of his own pistol, the momentum carrying it out of his hands and onto the floor behind him but he recovered quickly, drawing a knife from his belt.

 

“You think I need a gun to kill?” He shouted, angry now. He was about to continue when Jason was suddenly thrown forwards and onto the ground as Bart and his wheelchair collided into him from behind. The speedster was also thrown from the chair onto the floor next to the two villains but had a smile on his face.

 

“Looks like someone rushed in without thinking, Hood. Bad move.” With a few punches that were fast even for a speedster both Jason and the Joker were knocked out. “Payback feels damn good. Er, little help here Dick, please?”

 

Dick grinned as he jogged over to Bart, helping him onto his good leg. “Good work, Kid Flash.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! That'll be the end of the first arc, but don't worry this isn't the end for either this fic or Jason. Next chapter will be an epilogue that will sort some things out before we can move on to Arc 2: The Return of Wally West!


	10. Repose

**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 30, 09:32_ **

 

Dick woke up after the first good night of sleep he had had in a very long time. For once there didn't appear to be some massive crisis occuring, Jason had been placed in Arkham Asylum under the name John Doe, they had no intelligence that the Light was planning anything in the near future and the Team was all back together and on good terms with each other. They were planning a small celebration that evening, a party to get everyone’s spirits up again.

 

With Jason safely locked away in Arkham, he could focus on what was most important right now: Wally. He had presented the senior Team members with his data and although they were skeptical, especially Artemis, but neither had rejected his theory. They had agreed that after the party, the next step would be to approach Barry and Bart, they were the experts on everything to do with speedsters.

 

In the meantime Dick had work to do. He needed to go and talk to Bruce, clear the air and try to make amends. They should probably talk about the whole ‘Jason being back from the dead and murdering people’ issue as well, work out what to do with him in the long term. Dick wasn’t convinced that Arkham would hold for long, no matter what crazy cell Bruce had designed for him. Besides, Jason was his  _ brother _ , they need to help him and not make the situation worse. The last thing Dick wanted to see was Jason go on another murder spree or even worse, join the Light.

 

There was also the matter of the Base. If they weren’t working for Batman any more then using the Watchtower would be awkward and the Warehouse was a bit of a shithole if Dick was honest. Perhaps they could rebuild the Cave in Happy Harbour, they’d come up with something.

  
  


**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 30, 17:22_ **

 

Conner sighed as he walked into the Warehouse base with Wolf, he was greeted with a familiar sight. He wasn't annoyed at Gar swinging around as a monkey trying to catch Bart in his wheelchair or at Lagaan loudly debating with Jaime about the benefits of getting seaweed as a snack for tonight's party. Nor was he bugged that Cassie and Barbara where having an impromptu sparing match that was heading dangerously close where Artemis was talking with Kaldur, Dick and M’gann.

 

What was annoying Conner was the lone figure amongst all the excitement and happy faces, who was solemnly working by himself. When he and Wolf walked over to Tim, the boy detective didn’t even notice, he was too immersed with flicking through various surveillance shots of the San Francisco harbour. “Um, hello? Earth to Tim?” Conner waved a hand in front of his face.

 

Tim snapped out of whatever hyper focussed, zen detective state he was in, and looked up in surprise, “Oh, um, hey Conner.” He continued scrolling through some of the images, showing the faux Red Hood talking to the other as yet unidentified person outside Pier 80. “Is there something I can help you with?”

 

“Yeah, I was looking for fun, maybe I’ve come to the wrong table?” Conner smirked.

 

Tim just rolled his eyes, continuing to look over the data. “Fun can wait, I’m still working.”

 

“Do you and Bats ever do anything but work? I mean seriously, you guys hardly ever sleep let alone relax.” Conner resigned himself to the fact that Tim wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, he sat down next to him, trying to comprehend all the data flashing over the three holographic displays. “Well are you making any progress then?”

 

Tim gave a vague shrug, “Nothing too concrete yet. The guy who was pretending to be the Red Hood is a homeless guy called Adrian Winters, the other guy who was on the pier paid him a good amount of money to lead us on. As for the employer, I haven’t managed to identify him. Yet. Shortly before we moved in, he left on a boat that we found abandoned a few miles down the coast. He’s good, avoided any clear surveillance shots of his face and wore a hat or a hood at all times. I managed to legally track the boat back to Roman Sionis AKA Black Mask but Jason raided multiple gang lord’s caches, so it’s hard to know where it actually came from. I’m running an algorithm to try and render a 3D model of our perp, might be able to get a match from our databases with it but it will take a while to complete…” Tim sighs, leaning back in his chair.

 

Conner leans over, turning the displays off. “So you’re saying there’s nothing you can really do right now and that you should come and celebrate with the rest of us? Good.”

 

Tim gives him a glare that tells him the opposite and reactives the holographic displays, turning away from Conner and watching the ever so slowly moving progress bar.

 

With a scoff and a despairing look, Conner gets back up. “At least tell me you’re coming to the party later on? Actually, no. If you don’t turn up then I’ll run around Gotham until I find you and I’ll abduct you.” Conner says trying to maintain a deadly serious face.

 

After a few moments, Tim cracks a grin. “I guess I don’t have a choice in the matter then. I should probably go let Bats know then, see you later.” He gets up and heads toward the Zeta tubes, not seeing Conner’s giant grin as he walked away.

  
  


**_Arkham Asylum_ **

**_July 30, 18:32_ **

 

Jason paced around the cell. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Bruce had found a nice little box for Dick to hide him in, right in the depths of Arkham. They had logged him as John Doe and as much as Jason disliked Bruce and the rest of them, he wasn’t about to put innocent families in danger by revealing their secret identities.

 

After all these years it still amazed Jason that Bruce could creep up on him, but sure enough Batman stood on the other side of the glass or whatever super hard material he was being kept behind. He walked up to the glass and scowled at the man under the black cowl.

 

“Hey Bats, no Robin with you today? Shame, I was beginning to like the replacement.”

 

Bruce simply stared at Jason, as if he was still trying to consolidate the boy he trained and loved with the man in the cell in front of him.

 

“You know conversations usually only work if both people talk. Why are you here Bats? Not to gloat, that’s not really you. I bet you’ve found almost all my caches and safe houses by now and I don’t know much about the League that you don’t. So, why are you here?”

 

“Why?” Bruce says calmly without a hint of empathy or emotion in his voice.

 

Jason shrugs, “Because your way doesn’t work and people will keep dying until you put criminals away permanently or someone else does it for you. Because  _ he _ killed me,  _ he  _ took me from you and  _ I _ was the only one with a grave!”

 

Jason turns away and takes a few steps back from the glass, panting with anger. “You lost, it’s over.”

 

“Did I? Did I really? I showed them all who you really are, you don’t trust the Team, or even the League, and I doubt Dick or those kids will ever trust you again. Will little Timmy trust you again? Will he become another martyr like me, blindly following your broken ideology?” Jason walks slowly back towards the glass meeting Bruce’s cowled eyes, banging on the barrier with his fist, alarms springing into action.. “You’re just a boy in Crime Alley trying to stop two bullets but you can’t and you’re only getting more and more people killed!”

 

Bruce steps back, it may have been due to shock or the alarm, Jason couldn’t tell either way. A moment later the Batman had regained his composure and disappeared into the darkness behind him.

  
  


**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 30, 21:47_ **

 

The party was already a mess but that was to be expected. Conner had a sip of his punch, and yes someone had spiked it. He wasn’t sure who did it but Artemis was in an unusually good mood all things considered. Bart had already knocked over multiple chairs and tables with his wheelchair so he’s switched over to crutch, which he was still using to great effect. Virgil was crackling lightning between his fingers, trying to impress Barbara and M’gann, although both had smiles on their faces, Conner could tell neither was genuinely impressed. It looked like Jaime and Cassie were, well Conner wasn’t sure,  _ dancing  _ would be a generous word for it. At least they trying, and here, unlike a certain Robin.

 

Conner really thought he was going to turn up but alas, Tim proved to be as elusive as ever. He checked his phone but there wasn’t a message on there, no doubt Robin would show up in a couple of days with a lame excuse about a possible Arkham escape or Batman needing him for a stakeout.

 

He sighs and heads for where he left the Super-cycle.

  
  


**_Gotham City_ **

**_July 30, 22:03_ **

 

“Another coffee, master Timothy?”

 

“Yes please, Alfred.” Dick had often joked that Tim’s daily caffeine intake posed a far deadlier threat to him than any super villain or member of the Light. He was inclined to agree. But everyone had their habits, Bruce silently glowered at whatever was nearby, Dick cracked jokes, Tim has extensive amounts of coffee.

 

He checked the time on the Batcomputer’s display as Alfred brought him a fresh mug. Yeah, he had probably missed most of the party by now. He felt guilty about breaking his promise to Conner but he doubted anyone was really missing him there, besides he didn’t really deserve the party.  _ He  _ had been the one responsible for Bart’s injury and endangering everyone on Alpha that day,  _ he  _ had been the liability who Jason managed to kidnap and  _ he  _ hadn’t spotted the obvious trick that stranded everyone in San Francisco.

 

Before he could continue his self destructive musings, a ping alerted him. Checking his algorithm, the program had successfully identified the guy who employed the faux Red Hood in San Francisco.

 

“Son of a…” Tim let out a long sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, the display had one name written in a large green font,  _ Roy Harper. _

 

He really should have worked this one out earlier, how was he this  _ stupid? _ If he had just put a tracker on Roy or ran a tracer algorithm to keep tabs his former team mate then he would have never put Dickand Bart in danger, again.

 

He was interrupting again, this time by Alfred tapping him on the shoulder.

 

“Master Timothy, you have a visitor.”

 

“Who-” Before he could swivel around he was plucked from the Batcomputer’s chair and hoisted over Conner’s shoulder in a fireman’s lift by two very large and very strong arms.

 

“Sorry Tim, but I did warn you that I’d have to kidnap you.” Although Tim could only see back of Conner’s t-shirt he could somehow hear the smirk on the clone’s face.

 

“Alfred! Alfred, get him to put me down! This is a kidnapping!” Tim shouted, only half jokingly.

 

“I’m sorry sir, but I can’t hear you over all the fun you’re having. Thank you very much master Conner, this cave is no place for a young man to waste his youth.”

 

“No problem Al, thanks for the cookie!”

 

“You let him kidnap me  _ and  _ gave him a cookie?! Bruce will hear about this…” Tim trailed off into laughter, resigning himself to the fact that he was going to the Team’s party.

  
  


**_Bludhaven_ **

**_July 30, 23:06_ **

 

Bart sat on the roof of the warehouse, taking in a deep breath of the warm night air. Trying to dance at superspeed with a bad knee and crutch had been a bad idea. And an exhausting one. He tested his knee, slowly moving back and forth, he was still getting used the feeling of the bits of artificial kneecap the doctors had inserted. It ached and tonight probably hadn’t done it any favours but it felt good to back on his feet. Barry had suggested he tried running in a week or so, Bart wasn’t really sure he had the patience to wait a whole  _ week. _

 

“ _ Ese _ ! There you are. Wondered where you had run off to.” Jaime pauses for a moment before continuing over to sit next to Bart. “Sorry, poor choice of words.”

 

“No worries  _ hermano _ .” He sat back and leaned his head on Jaime’s shoulder. The two sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, taking in the view, vast neon signs and spotlights lighting up the night sky. “Bludhaven might not be the nicest city in the world but it looks pretty crash at night.”

 

“Yeah,  _ te ves guapo _ .” Jaime muttered, half under his breath.

 

“What?”

 

“I, err,” He coughed, clearing his head, “I said it does look good…”

 

“You know I never properly thanked you.” Bart removed his head from Jaime’s comfortable shoulder and turned to face him.

 

“Oh? For what?” Jaime met his eyes.

 

“Talking some sense into me, before the mission. Seriously, it helped a lot.”

 

“Well you it was you who did all the hard stuff, I just told you to-” He was suddenly cut off as Bart kissed him.

  
  


**_Arkham Asyulm_ **

**_August 2, 11:59_ **

 

Jason sat on the edge of his bed, impatiently tapping his foot on the concrete floor. He didn’t have an actual clock but he could hear the orderlies start to push the lunch trolley around the cells and his internal body clock was usually pretty reliable. It was almost time.

 

When Jason was planning his attack, the one weakness of Batman’s he exploited was his arrogance. Bruce thought he was one single person who could be relied upon to oversee everything, control everything. This included Arkham of course, so about a week ago when he broke into the Batcave and stole Bruce’s files on the Team he had also implanted a virus. A contingency in case he failed and was sent to Arkham, it was about to pay off.

 

At exactly noon that day, Arkham’s main and backup capacitors overloaded, breaking the electromagnetic locks that kept every door locked, all the interior lights and communications systems blew fuses, sending the entire Asylum into chaos. The inmates were all wearing inhibitor collars as per standard protocol but it didn’t take long for the mass breakout to begin.

 

**_12:04_ **

 

Jason panted as he ran down another hallway, blood staining his striped jumpsuit. He had run into a couple of Black Mask’s low level meta goons out for revenge against him but he was finally here.  _ Access Hallway 7A, _ Jason pushed himself against the wall, he shouldn’t have to wait here long-

 

_ BOOM! _

 

A few feet away the side of the building collapse inwards as a missile hit it, without hesitation Jason leapt through the new hole. Luckily his hands grasped onto the rope ladder trailer from the bottom of the helicopter Roy had obtained as per Jason’s instructions. It didn’t take him long to get in the chopper and for the duo to fly off.

 

“Good timing Roy, I saved your ass, now you’ve saved mine.” Jason grinned, finding his extra set of gear on a seat in the back.

 

“Yeah, it’s only fair. What now then boss? Want to go another round with the Bats and the Team or somewhere else?”

 

Jason paused for a moment before replying, “A couple of days in Arkham gave me some time to actually think. I’m done with them…”

 

“So what now?”

 

“How about Qurac? Full of immoral dictators, innocent refugees and greedy mercs. Sounds fun to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's the end of our first arc! Next: The Return of Wally West. I was pretty slow writing this so thanks for bearing with me, I hope you're enjoying it! This is my first fic so sorry for any mistakes.


	11. Search

**_Bludhaven_ **

**_August 3, 09:30_ **

 

“Okay, gather around everyone.” Dick spoke, trying to quiet all of the young heroes in front of him. “We’re going back to regular routine now, well until some new crisis messes up everything again.” He said grinning. “Which means training, so everyone get ready for sparring and report to Tigress back here in 15 minutes. In the meantime I need to see Batgirl, Robin, Guardian, Miss Martian and Kid Flash. Understood?”

 

There was general murmur of agreement followed by chatter as the crowd dispersed. Some went off to the changing rooms to get prepared while other stood around gossiping with each other. Dick and the others were crammed into warehouse’s office that doubled as the current operations hub, various monitors adorning the walls.

 

Mal folded his arms, uncomfortably squashed in the small room. “What’s this all about ‘wing?”

 

“I’ve got a mission for us. Thankfully nothing urgent or dangerous, we need a new base. As…” Dick smiled, “Homely as this warehouse has become, we really need an upgrade or several upgrades. Kaldur and I have drawn up plans to set up a network of bases, better equipped, more secure and a lot nicer than this warehouse. This afternoon, I want each of you to have a look at a few prospective sites across the country. I’ll let you know the details after training, now I’m sure Tigress is keen to whip everyone back into shape, so scram. Oh, except for you Kid Flash, we need to talk.”

 

Tim tried to give a reassuring smile to Bart as he left the office, he wasn’t sure if he succeeded, Tim knew he wasn’t great at people skills. He spied Jaime leaning against a wall, looking towards the office space. Changing into Blue Beetle was a lot easier and quicker than most superheroes. It had taken a year for Tim to get used to putting his uniform on, but he could now get fully changed and armed in under two minutes.

 

“Err, Robin?” Tim was snatched from his thoughts by Jaime. “Where’s Bart? I didn’t see him come out with you, did he run? Because he really shouldn’t be running yet, his knee isn’t properly healed yet.”

 

“No, Nightwing said he needed to speak to him about something. I’m not sure what though…” Tim trailed off as he saw the Zeta tube activating, the automated voice announcing the newcomer’s presence.

 

“ _ Recognised, Flash, 04.”  _ A red blur emerging from the teleporter, heading straight for the back office.

 

“Huh,” Tim continued, scratching his forehead, “I guess that’s got something to do with it.” He chuckled, “Oh I think I know. They’re probably giving Bart  _ the talk _ .”

 

“ _ The talk? _ ” Jaime said, sounding slightly concerned now.

 

“Yeah, you know. After what happened between you and him on the roof the other night…”

 

A deep red blush suddenly covered Jaime’s face as the teen coughed and choked on his words. “Wha- err, what- what are you talking about?”

 

Tim laughed and lowered his voice, patting him on the shoulder. “Nightwing installed some extra security, you two got caught on the roof camera. Don’t worry, I deleted it, I saw it when I was erasing all evidence I ever danced that night. So, are you two..?”

 

It took a moment for Jaime to relax and then smile, shyly grinning. “I… I’m not really sure. After the kiss, I kind of took off, flew back to El Paso. I was going to talk to Bart this morning but he seems to be busy. I don’t know how he feels,  _ mierda, _ I don’t know how I feel about any of this!”

 

Jaime leant back against a wall, sighing and putting both of his hands over his eyes. “Well good luck with that, I’ve got to get changed for sparring, see you in the ring Blue.”

 

**_11:07_ **

 

“Stop! Wonder Girl wins the round, Blue Beetle take a break. No rest for you Wonder Girl, stay right there, you’re up against Superboy next.” As Jaime picked himself up off the floor, he decided that Nightwing wasn’t kidding when he said Artemis, wait no - Tigress now, was going to be hard on them. Rubbing a spot on his arm that he knew was going to bruise after the fight, he felt a tap on his shoulder, turning around he saw Nightwing smiling at him.

 

“Hey, I need to borrow you. You’re not too beat up are you?”

 

“No, I’m fine thanks.” Jaime’s mind raced as he followed Dick towards the back office, what was this about? Maybe Tim hadn’t deleted all footage, maybe the Reach were coming back, maybe- Jaime shook his head, this wasn’t helping.

 

_ We could always extract the information from him using force. _ The Beetle helpfully said in his mind, that wasn’t going to help and he doubted Nightwing would reveal any information even if he was tortured. Stepping into the office Jaime was greeted with the sight of two speedsters rushing around the small space, flipping through charts and graphs, comparing diagrams and talking at super speed, this certainly wasn’t what he expected. When he entered the room, Bart stopped for a moment, looking like a deer caught in headlights, looking at Jaime before giving him a quick smile and continuing on.

 

“So, what’s all of this about ‘wing?”

 

“We need your help, you have advanced alien technology which can scan for things we don’t have the equipment to detect. Can you clear your calendar and come with us for the next couple of days? You’ll need to pack some warm clothes as well, we’re headed to the North Pole.”

  
  


**_San Francisco_ **

**_August 3, 14:23_ **

 

“Err… Robin you there?” Cassie called out, looking curiously at the garage door. All she got was a muffled reply followed by an obvious cry of pain and a swear. Quickly opening the old blue garage door, she saw Tim in the middle of a mess of wires, electronics and shards of metal that was once a Zeta tube, sucking on his thumb. A drop of blood, slowly dripping down his arm. “You alright?”

 

“Yeah.” He said, taking the thumb from his mouth and rubbing it on a cloth. “Just cut myself on some metal, my own stupid fault. Roy really did a number on this thing.”

 

“Do you think you can repair it? Or maybe salvage some of it?”

 

Tim shrugged, “Not sure yet. I should be able to salvage at least some of the core systems but it’ll take a while. Did you have a look at the places Nightwing suggested as possible new bases?”

 

“Yeah, I looked at few but then got bored and hungry so I grabbed us some lunch, have you even taken a break since we got here?” She tossed a paper bag that smelt of a burger and fries in Tim’s general direction.

 

“I’ve only been working for a couple of hours and I’m not hungry but thanks for the thought.”

 

“Tim! Come on out from there, humans need breaks. Plus I know the only thing you’re more addicted to than work is coffee so I brought some of that too.” She said, motioning with a steaming hot takeaway polystyrene cup in her hand.

 

That gave Tim pause, “Is it black?”

 

She nodded, “Of course. Also, I think we need to talk.”

 

Sighing, Tim started to wriggle his way out to join Cassie for lunch, snatching the bag of food from the ground and thankfully taking the cup of coffee. “Well that sounds ominous… What do we need to talk about?”

 

**_14:28_ **

 

Tim scratched his head, he could do advanced calculus in his head and hack into the pentagon before his morning coffee but this conversation was confusing him. “So, you’re breaking up with me? Because I’ve already broken up with you? I don’t remember breaking up with you…”

 

“Tim, I know the last week has been stressful and crazy and so much has happened, but ask yourself, am I really your girlfriend? All you’ve done in the last week is shut me out or ignore me, and if you can’t let me in… Then I’m not right for you and you need to find someone who you can let in. Because with what we do, we all need someone who we can rely on, someone who we can trust completely, and I’m sorry but I just don’t think that’s us.”

 

“I- Err, so…” Thankfully, Tim’s social inept stammerings were cut short by a burst of static and a panicked message from the communicator in his pocket.

  
  


**_Gotham City_ **

**_August 3, 14:21_ **

 

“Wait, this place?” Conner asked incredulously, “Seriously? Dick thinks we can set up a base in this dump?”

 

Barbara grinned, surveying the partially ruined building in front of them .“It may not look like much but apparently there’s most of a base hidden away underneath the rubble. Scarecrow dug up a whole underground secret lab, it’s got power, water and even some supplies. If we can seal the old entrance and build a new one, expand the base, maybe get Wayne enterprises to build something on top… Yeah, this could definitely work.”

 

Conner chuckled, “When you put it like that, you sound like Tim.” He moved to the entrance of the collapsed chemist shop, forcing the rubble out of doorway with his hands.

 

“What do you mean?” Barbara asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

Conner shrugged, “Tim’s quiet a lot of the time but when you get him talking… I don’t know how to put it… He has vision I guess. He sees the world for what it could be and not the crumbling mess it is.” He paused for a second, thinking about Tim and grinning. “Still, it doesn’t stop him beating himself up all the time.”

 

“That’s for sure. He puts the whole world on his shoulders, anytime something goes wrong he’ll blame himself first. Anyway, what’s been going with you and him? You two have been spending a lot of time together, you even managed to drag him to the party.”

 

Conner froze for a moment, “W-what do you mean? We’re just friends, I’ve been trying to get him out more, you know, get a social life.” Conner realised his cheeks were going in red so he got back to work, shifting a large piece of debris, revealing a metal trapdoor. “Aha! I think I’ve found that secret lab you were talking about,

I should just be able to force this hatch open-”

 

“Wait, Conner! It could be booby trapped.” Barbara was interrupted by the hiss of the green gas that shot up from the vent into Conner’s face.

 

**_Somewhere,_ **

**_Somewhen_ **

 

The first thing Wally noticed about being dead was that it was surprisingly painful, and bright. Maybe he was in heaven, although he somehow doubted it. Even after all of his experience with magic and the mystic world, the concepts of Heaven and Hell still seemed a bit far fetched to him.

 

The second thing Wally noticed was the figure standing over him.

 

“Dick?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while, life keeps getting in the way! And it will continue to, I'm moving to university this week so everything will be hectic and I have no idea when I'll next post, it could be tomorrow or next month, who knows! I just hope anyone is still reading and enjoying this, thanks for any comments, kudos and bookmarks <3


	12. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of characters start to take a good long look at inside of themselves.

The sun felt warm on Conner’s face, his cells absorbing solar radiation, it was a nice relaxing feeling and he always made sure to savour the sensation. The green grass under him felt comfortable, the sky was a magnificent blue, entirely devoid of clouds and he finally felt as his life was in order.

 

“Hey are you gonna eat any of these sandwiches? Because I’m not able to eat them all by myself and I made them for a reason.”

 

Conner stayed lying on the ground and turned towards Tim, smiling. “I’m just enjoying the moment Timmers, besides you could do with putting the weight on, you’re practically all skin and bones.”

 

Chuckling from next to the wicker picnic basket, Tim smiled back, “I am not! But even if I was, I’d argue it helps being Robin so either way I’m right.” Conner rolls his eyes and feeling his phone start to buzz from the pocket it was happily nestled in, he grabbed it.

 

A shiver went down his spine as he heard Lex Luthor’s voice over the sound of weird static buzzing.

 

_ “Victoria aut mortem.” _

 

There was nothing he could do but panic as the dread set in, the phone cracked in his fist, his body not obeying him.

 

He tried to call out to Tim and warn him.

 

He tried to stop.

 

All he could do was watch.

  
  


**_Gotham City_ **

**_August 3, 16:54_ **

 

The double doors of the Batcave’s small infirmary burst open as Tim ran through them and next to the only occupied bed, Barbara and Alfred already crowded over it. Conner lay in the open cot, a gas mask over his face, his body spasming and twitching.

 

“What happened?” Tim demanded as he looked down at the clone in dismay.

 

“He needs more sedatives or he’ll rip this room apart.” Alfred said calmly, nodding to Barbara, “Master Timothy, we have this under control, please calm yourself. Conner has suffered a large dose of concentrated fear gas but his kryptonian physiology appears to be helping and he should recover in time. Unfortunately he seems equally resistant to our standard fear toxin antidote, and appears to be experiencing the fear toxin’s full hallucinogenic effects.”

 

Now the sedatives have kicked in, Conner’s spasming calm slightly. Alfred sighs, a relieved look coming onto his elderly face. “I’m no expert in Kryptonian medicine but his condition is stable. Barbara could you please take Master Timothy upstairs, there should be some food in the pantry upstairs, I’ll stay here and keeping tending to Superboy.”

 

After a few futile attempts to protest, Tim had been dragged away from Conner by Barbara and was sitting upstairs in the manor’s large kitchen.

 

“What’s wrong kiddo?” Barbara said while rifling through the cupboards, grabbing various jars and bags of food before sitting next to Tim, assembling a huge sandwich.

 

“Oh I don’t know, maybe it’s the fact that one of my best friends is in the med bay downstairs.” Tim grumbled into the table his head was lying on. “What’s with all the food, did you not have lunch or something?”

 

“When you go off to college you’ll learn to never turn down free food, anyway you’re changing the subject. Someone gets injured every Tuesday, that’s just our lives, so come on Tim what’s wrong?”

 

Tim sighed, “Cassie broke up with me for reasons I still can’t quite wrap my head around…”

  
  


**_Elsewhere,_ **

**_Elsewhen_ **

 

“Um, Dick? What’s going on? Where are we?” Wally asked, pulling himself up from the floor, looking around at his surroundings. 

 

“Isn’t that obvious, you’re dead Kid Idiot.” The reply came from behind him where Artemis stood in civvies, looking at him with a disappointed look on her face.

 

“Wh-” Wally began to reply before being interrupted by Dick, “He’s not dead Arty, I mean look around.” Like a picture coming into focus, Wally’s surroundings seemed to materialise around him. A familiar light wooden floor and carpet appeared beneath him, an old oak set of table and chairs as well as some slightly out of taste paintings hanging on the wall. Wally knew where he was in an instant, he was home. “Okay! What the hell is going on here? Last thing I remember is running around the Reach thing in the arctic and now I’m back in my childhood home with my two best friends!”

 

Artemis casually gave a shrug in reply, “Don’t ask me, Dick’s always been the science guy.”

 

Dick sighed and swept his hair to the side like he usually did when he was stressed. “Well if I had to guess, then I’d say all of this is some kind of hallucination your mind is making up, like a dreaming coma patient.”

 

“Wait, so you’re just a figment of my imagination and I’m in a coma right now?”

 

Dick laughed, “I guess so but you’re probably not in a coma, that’s far too mundane, knowing our luck you’re probably stuck in some magical alien dream prison or something?”

 

“A magical alien dream prison?” Artemis chuckled, “That’s the best you could come up with? Consider me whelmed.”

 

“Hey if I’m a figment of Wally’s imagination then you can blame your boyfriend’s lack of creativity.”

 

Wally simply sighs, “Guys can we focus here! I’m still freaking out at what’s going on here. Do I really have to argue with you two, I mean myself…”

  
  


**_Arctic Circle_ **

**_August 3, 17:04_ **

 

“Oh man it is cold out here. Like really damn cold.”

 

“Well we’re not far from the north pole, what did you expect?” Barry said, chuckling. “Come on, we’ll finish assembling the base that’ll warm you up. Nightwing had a few prefab modules sent over but we need to finish putting all together.

 

Bart grinned, “Sure thing pops.” The two speedsters got to work in a whirlwind of activity, 4 cube prefab building modules sat in the snow attached together to make a rudimentary base. One contained four small bedrooms and a bathroom, another had a kitchen and living space. The other two made up a compact science lab with all sorts of state of the art monitoring equipment and an array of high tech computer processors. Dick had obviously called in all of his favors with S.T.A.R. labs that he had built up over the years of saving their facilities. Various crates of supplies, including a huge stockpile of food for the two speedsters, had also been airlifted in and they all needed unpacking and storing. Bart whizzed around, organising, connecting machines, attaching wiring. It felt good to be back on his feet and working, Barry and Dick had agreed to let him run here and use his superspeed to help as long he was careful. The bullet to his knee was nothing compared the boredom that followed.

 

The work also distracted him from thinking about a  _ certain _ stupid boy who was currently flying in a jet at high speeds to spend the next few days in an enclosed environment with him. And Bart still hadn’t talked to Jaime about that night, his best friend had kissed him, how is he supposed to deal with this? On top of Wally’s death as well? It all felt like too much to deal with...

 

He felt so messed up right now.

 

**_17:13_ **

“Hey Kid, are you alright?” Barry asked with a frown on his face. The two speedsters were sat around a small coffee table in the newly finished base with a hot drink of coco each. Barry was concerned about Bart, it had taken them an entire five and a half minutes to finish assembling their new scientific outpost but in the ninety seconds or so since finishing, the younger speedster had barely moved. It was probably the longest continuous period of time he had seen Bart stay still voluntarily.

 

“Wh- Oh yeah fine.” Bart replied with a grin. Now Barry was sure, he definitely wasn’t fine. He had had the exact same conversation with Wally too many times to be fooled by false smiling and empty jokes.

 

“We haven’t really had a proper talk about him yet, about Wally.” Barry let out a sigh, “And that’s been my fault, between trying to help Artemis and Wally’s parents plus now with Iris’ pregnancy getting close and being the Flash, I just haven’t had the time and-”

 

“Barry, stop.” Bart looked up at his grandfather with a painfully sad look in his eye, it made Barry want to hug him right now. “I’m from a future where people are nothing more than meat to experimented on by the Reach. Of course I’m sad and his death is totally on mode but I’ve been surrounded by death since I was born, all you can do is keep moving.”

 

“No, Bart. That’s not the point at all.” Barry shook his head. “After I became the Flash, I got obsessed with solving my mother’s death. I focussed so much on finding Thawne that I almost lost my job at the crime lab, my relationship with Iris, I almost even killed him. Sometimes you have slow down, kid. Take it all in, the good, the bad, all of it. If you just try to rush through life it will just catch up with you later and it will be so much worse. I’m not saying you need to start doing soul searching meditation right now but trust me, you can’t run forever.”

 

Bart nodded slowly before getting up and hugging Barry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm back! Maybe? Who knows...
> 
> It's a been a while so please forgive me but I hope at least someone still enjoys this. I'm gonna try to start back on uploading chapters semi-regularly but no promises because I'm pretty terrible at this, thanks for reading!


	13. Resolution

_ “Do you have a plan?” _

 

_ He almost rolled his eyes. “Of course I have a plan.” _

 

_ “Are you going to kill him? You know a lot of people have tried.” _

 

_ “No, death is too good for a man like him.” He paused for a moment, “I’m going to rip him apart, burn him like he’s never been burned before.” _

  
  


**_Gotham City,_ **

**_August 6, 00:43_ **

 

Tim slowly pried himself from under his sleeping dad’s arm, Jack and his stepmom Dana had insisted on spending the day together which included a movie night to try and cheer him up. Maybe telling them about his break-up had been a bad idea, they’d just try and spend more time with him now, it was going to make it harder to be Robin for a few weeks. Speaking of, Tim shut the door to his room and retrieved his costume from under a floorboard in his cupboard, there was still plenty of night left to patrol. His dad had been making an effort to spend more time with him, he was pretty sure it was at Dana’s urging, which was nice, if a little inconvenient for his night time activities. Exiting his bedroom’s window, the hot, sticky summer air of Gotham greeted him as he fired his grappling gun and soared to a neighboring building’s rooftop.

 

Tapping his communicator, he reported in. “Penny-One, this Robin out for patrol.”

 

After a few moments a familiar elderly british voice replied, “Master Timothy, we were unsure if you were available tonight, I’m glad to hear your voice. Unfortunately, both Master Bruce and Ms Gordon are detained at the Policeman’s gala and Master Dick is in the Arctic.”

 

“That’s fine Al, I can handle the patrol solo. Have you got anything on the scanner for me?”

 

“A surprisingly quiet night so far, well quiet for Gotham at least. A series of robberies and muggings have been reported in the East End, it looks like the culprit is enhanced on some kind of drug, possibly venom. I’ll send the addresses to your wrist computer, do be careful, sir.”

 

“I always am. Is there an update on Conner?”

 

“He woke up this morning and asked for you but Mister Kent took him to the fortress and then Smallville for further examination and recovery. Clark believes he should be back to his usual self in a few days, we both know the after effects of fear toxin.”

 

Tim’s faced grimaced as he flew through the air onto another building. “Alright Al, thanks the news, I’ll check in with you later.”

 

“Very good, sir.”

 

Tim’s attention was turned back to reality as he neared the first of the mugging sites. It was inevitably one of the many dark and creepy alleys that Gotham seemed to have far too many of, a single cop stood at the entrance next to a squad car. From a roof across the street, Tim magnified the lens’ in his mask, the cop was a young black woman, maybe early twenties. She was in complete uniform, standing alert in the middle of the alley entranceway, probably a new recruit or transfer. After a few years in Gotham, most cops lose whatever idealistic or patriotic feeling that caused them to join up, she could be a problem. Rookies always act unpredictable the first few times they meet a bat, Tim had almost been tasered, shot and pepper sprayed by panicking rookies many times, his best options would be to sneak in and try to avoid her completely.

 

After a few minutes, Tim had crossed the street via an overpass, run across a few rooftops and silently leapt down into the alleyway without the cop noticing, so far, so good. The alley was a mess, there was a side door to the restaurant next door where the victim, a waitress who had finished her shift, had left before being attacked and mugged. Trash was strewn across the floor from a crumbled garbage can that had obviously been thrown form one end of the alley to the other, there was a hand print left in the broken metal, the assailant clearly didn’t know his own strength. A few cracks in the brick walls of the alley with partial fist imprints and a discarded pepper spray can showed the struggle that allowed the waitress to escape. On closer inspection there was a syringe with a few drops of a weird blue liquid mixed in with the trash which the police had probably missed. Setting his wrist computer to analyse the liquid against venom, Tim built up a mental picture of what happened here:

 

The syringe being at the scene of the crime indicated the assailant had to use immediately before commiting the crime suggesting it only had temporary effect or he would have injected himself before leaving whatever hole he crawled out of. So he had waited here for a victim then once the waitress exited through the side door he injected himself and approached her. The waitress used the pepper on spray which just made him angrier, he would have swung a few times randomly being temporarily blinded, connecting with the wall, leaving the fist imprints in the wall. The waitress would run towards the street and the assailant would grab the bin, nearest object large enough the cause damage and throw it after her but he missed, the bin went further than expected and the waitress escaped.

 

_ BEEP! _

 

His wrist computer finished it’s preliminary analysis, the blue liquid was a solution of venom with a number of unidentified extra compounds. It was possible the venom was cut for-

 

“Hey you! Freeze!” Oh shit, the rookie cop had heard his wrist computer. “Wait a minute… you... you’re…” Tim cursed himself for being so stupid, he should have just muted it.

 

“Robin, yes I am.” He turned around with his hand away from his utility belt, that always made the police more comfortable. The cop had pulled their gun out but had suddenly stop focussing on him to nervously glance around the nearby roofs and fire escapes, Tim sighed. “No, he isn’t here, just me.”

 

That brought the cop’s attention back to him, her gun pointed somewhere between him and the ground, that was a good sign, she probably wasn’t going to try and shoot him. “I thought you two were partners.”

 

“Yeah, but we’re not attached at the hip, I’m here solo, you can calm down.” The cop seemed to relax slightly at that. “What’s your name rookie?”

 

“Uh... Harper, I just got transferred from Central a week ago.”

 

“Welcome to Gotham,” This was good, she might even give him some information. “How much do you know about this case Harper?”

 

She shook her head, still slightly in shock. “Not much… someone tried to mug a girl here about an hour or two ago, I’m just here to stop junkies from coming and tampering evidence until a detective called Bullock is free after the police gala is over.”

 

Tim chuckled at that, “Oh Bullock is a delight, I best be off now, is that alright?” He started slowly back away, a hand  going towards his grappling gun.

 

Harper nervously swallowed then nodded and lowered her gun to point at the ground as Tim grappled away toward the other crime scenes.

  
  


**_Elsewhere,_ **

**_Elsewhen_ **

 

Wally felt like he was getting a headache, which at least meant he probably wasn’t dead. He figured most dead people didn’t get headaches, of course most dead people didn’t have to deal with whatever weird hallucination he was going through.

 

When he looked up Dick and Artemis weren’t there, which was probably as weird as if they were still there. Instead, Jay Garrick stood in front of him.

 

“Hey kiddo, how’s it going?”

 

Wally sighed, “These hallucinations are really starting to piss me off.”

 

“Language! Wally, come on.”

 

“Why? Why should I bother? You’re just another part of my mind or whatever!”

 

“Then you should probably listen to me, you’re probably trying to tell yourself something.” Jay sighed and sat down on a couch. “Listen kid, I’m obviously here for a reason, so let’s try and figure it out.”

 

“Well I could just be going mad! Did you consider that? Or maybe I’m dead and gone?” Wally slumps against a wall and onto the floor, tears starting to form in his desperate eyes. “I just want to go home…”

 

A sympathetic smile forms on Jay’s tired face. “Maybe that’s the problem kid, maybe you don’t feel like you have a home. You want a nice domestic life with Artemis, a life without danger and death on a daily basis, a house, a car, a job, maybe even a few kids one day, a good life. But then there’s the rush you get every time you run into a burning building to save a kid, the joy of seeing a bumblebee flying in slow motion and the comradery that’s deeper than friendship, born from facing down the deadliest of foes with your team.”

 

Wally looked up at him from down on the floor. “What are you saying?”

 

“I think that’s why I’m here, I already made the choice to get out of the hero business, to hand down my mantle to Barry and settle down with Joan. Maybe you need to make that choice Wally, after all, you can never be grounded without a lightning rod.”

 

**_Arctic Circle_ **

**_August 6, 01:59_ **

 

Jaime shivered as the door to the complex sealed behind him, the blue armour retracting around his head. As advanced as the scarab’s alien armour is, the arctic is still the arctic and nothing can stop the harsh chill that seems to permeate everything. Shaking off the last of the snow valiantly clinging to him, Jaime made his way to the lab where he could see Dick slumped over a chair, passed out, while Barry, dressed in a white lab coat as opposed to his usual scarlet uniform, was whizzing around between a few different workstations.

 

“Uh, hey Flash, did you the get the readings I sent over earlier?” He was still nervous around the Flash even though they had done the whole civilian identity exchange thing and Barry seemed like a really nice and genuine person. Maybe it had to do with the Bart… incident.

 

“Yes I did Jaime, thank you very much.” Barry stopped for a moment and brushed his hair back with a hand while the other one tapped against his leg, turning to the younger hero he let out a sigh, “Well, Nightwing is definitely onto something, although I have no idea what that something is. It sure could be Wally out there causing these fluctuations but it could also be any number of extradimensional or alien energies that we just don’t enough about.”

 

“Sure… I’m not going to pretend what any of that means, I almost failed 10th grade physics and this all looks like way beyond that. I was going to make some food, do you want anything?”

 

“Thanks but no, Bart said he’d drop something by later, I think he’s taking a nap.”

 

Jaime nodded and walked out of the lab area as Barry started whizzing around between various machines once again. If Bart was taking nap, now would be good chance as any to grab a bite to eat. Not that he was avoiding Bart for any particular reason. Especially not because of a certain incident involving a kiss on a certain rooftop. He sighed as he entered the kitchenette area, his armour fully retracting around to reveal the simple t-shirt and jeans he was wearing, what was his life coming to? He’s a (maybe) gay (look, he’s still trying to figure it out, it’s difficult) superhero powered by a homicidal scarab from outer space and is currently stuck in the North Pole with the boy he’s crushing on, looking for a dead speedsters.

 

He froze.

 

As it turned out, Bart was in fact in the kitchen and not in the bed where he was supposed to be. Jaime involuntarily let out an awkward cough in surprise.

 

“Oh. Uh, hey Jaime.” Bart said in greeting without much enthusiasm in his voice.

 

“Yeah, hi.” An awkward silence descended as Bart waited in front of a microwave, the tapping of his foot and the slow humming of the machine being the only sources of noise in the room. Both boys quickly broke eye contact trying desperately to find anything else interesting in the spartan room to look at. After a few moments more of prolonged social tension, both of them broke at the same time.

 

“Look, about the other night-”

 

“I got ahead of myself, you know how I just rush into everything-” Bart chuckled as a deep blushed rose into the other boy’s cheeks. “Sorry, I’m always acting before thinking, you go first Jaime.”

 

Jaime nodded and nervously started to speak. “So… you surprised me the other night when you kissed me,  _ ese. _ I didn’t really mean to just fly off like that but I just kinda panicked and the next thing I knew I was back home in El Paso. Then I had to try and figure out… well everything. And then we got caught up in this mission and… I’m such a  _ gilipollas _ .” He sighed and rubbed his forehead with a hand. “Screw it.”

 

Without another word, Jaime leaned in and kissed Bart. Unlike their first quick and unsure kiss on the rooftop, this one was full of intent and lasted longer, he could taste Bart and it made him smile. When they pulled back from each other they saw Nightwing standing in the doorway.

 

“Ahem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been a while but I'm alive! Sorry for the very long wait, I honestly don't know if I'll ever finish this or even when/if I'll upload the next chapter but I'm hopefully that I'll keep going at it. I hope you enjoy and always thanks for the lovely comments and kudos. If the writing seems a bit dodgy it's probably because I'm out of practice, sorry for that.
> 
> I'm messing around with idea of writing smaller fics to keep me motivated while I'm stuck on a chapter, so maybe look out for that, anyway thanks for reading.


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